Trained at the Sacramento City College, the San José State College and the Sacramento State College, all in California, Mel began his career as a teacher at Elk Grove High School, Mira Lama High School and California State College.

In 1962-63, the artist created a series of brightly colored super-heroes taken from comic strips and was first included in a collective exhibition, titled POP GOES THE EAST, at the Contemporary Art Museum, in Houston.

In 1964, he held his first solo exhibition at the BIANCHINI GALLERY, New York.

In 1965, he began creating his most characteristic work: Pop Art iconography using American nude pin-up girls combined with advertisements of branded products.

In 1969, his art was first exhibited at the Whitney Museum, New York.

Other major PUBLIC COLLECTIONS with his artworks include:

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Franklin House Collection, San Francisco, CA; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN; Kunsthaus Darmstadt, Germany; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Neue Galerie Stadt Aachen, Germany; The Oakland Museum, CA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Seattle Art Museum, WA; and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.

Along with Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and James Rosenquist, Mel Ramos has become one of the leading exponents of American POP ART.