Magic Johnson

Alberto Ramirez is a spanish painter who specialises in large scale portraits of famous people. Alberto is currently living and working in Berlin. His work is concentrated on the potrayal of the individual in modern day society and issues of anonymity and privacy in the 21st centyry.

For as long as Alberto Ramirez could hold a pencil in his hand, he’s been drawing. The Madrid-born artist began painting in elementary school and simply never looked back. For a large part of his career, Ramirez has focused his efforts on portrait painting. Fascinated by the human face and its ability to tell the most intricate stories with even the smallest expression, he defines his work as “decoding a silent language that needs to be heard.” Ramirez believes that choosing a subject for his paintings is perhaps the most vital part of the process. And what faces can tell a greater story than the mugs of music icons like Bruce Springsteen and Prince? Many of these pop culture-inspired pieces were also born of Ramirez’s project “LEG” which, through a chain of fortuitous events, was a collaborative effort with artist and childhood friend David Partida—a man he’d reunited with in Spain in the early 2000s. Today, Ramirez resides in Berlin where he continues to make his mark with his modern portraits, each one meant to immortalize the character and vigor of their respective stars.

Text by Michael Scivoli