Visual Style: Mad Men

“MAD MEN: A term coined in the late 1950′s to describe the advertising executives of Madison Avenue.
They coined it.”

— "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" episode

Set in the early 1960s, on the cusp between the repression and conformity of the 1950s and the social and cultural upheavals of the 60s, the styling of a "Mad Men" episode mines the Rat Pack romance of that period, complete with wreaths of smoke, and the fog of too many martinis. You see the hints of that styling at West Elm and Design Within Reach.

Design Within Reach chandelier, SFMOMA decanter,
Design Within Reach chair and West Elm end table

But what would be the perfect contemporary artwork to reflect the "Mad Men" style?

The artwork of Sheldon Greenberg, of course.

Ruby, 2007, oil on panel, 18 x 33 inches, $3400

Empty Pool, 2007, oil on panel, 20 x 33 inches, $3400

Chandelier Convergence, 2009, oil on canvas, 60 x 64, $14,000

Throughout his body of work Sheldon Greenberg employs a repertoire of images that explore personal memories, popular culture, classic cinema, and modern architecture. His work straddles the divide between reality and fiction, public and private, with an approach to painting rooted in the traditions of abstraction, realism, and pop art. He nods at past masters like Warhol, Lichtenstein, Ruscha, and Hockney, with an appreciation that borders on kitsch at times, and reverence at others. Mining the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s for images of celebrity, style, and architecture, his work evokes a longing for the ethos of prosperity of those decades, as well as a sense that much of that desire was invented for us by film, fashion, and Madison Avenue.

Come to the Artists Gallery to see these paintings and others by Sheldon Greenberg.