PERMANENT COLLECTIONS OF
RECENT NEWS
The Museum of Modern Art in New York has acquired Humanscape 68 (Kitchen Spanish), 1973.
October 2026.
Following its showing in Sixties Surreal (September 2025–January 2026), Humanscape 56 (San Antonio Circus '69) entered the Whitney's permanent collection in 2026.
These join Casas' works at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Crystal Bridges, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the McNay, SAMA, and others.
OPENS TONIGHT
Winter Hours
Tuesday - Saturday: 10AM - 6PM
Sunday: 11AM - 6PM
Mel Casas: Double Feature
Opening Reception:
Wednesday, November 11 6-8PM
November 11, 2026 - January 10, 2027
40 Great Jones St
New York, NY 10012
MoMA acquires
Humanscape No. 68
The Whitney acquires Humanscape No. 56
Selected Humanscapes
Humanscapes 1 - 32
(1965 - 1967)
Humanscapes 33 - 93
(1967 - 1977)
Humanscapes 94 - 150
1978 -1989
1965 - 1967
Cinema & Sexuality
The drive-in screen as a frame for desire and spectatorship.
1968 - 1977
Political paintings
Advertising stereotypes and the Chicano movement.
1975 - 1981
Art about art
Sly commentary on the art world and its conventions.
1982 - 1989
Southwest Clichés
Regional kitsch reimagined, played straight and played for laughs.
Exhibitions
2026
2026
Eric Firestone Gallery
Culture Commons Gallery
New York NY
San Antonio TX
2025
Whitney Museum
New York NY
2024
Pérez Art Museum Miami
Miami FL
Melesio "Mel" Casas was born in El Paso in 1929 and worked for most of his life in San Antonio as a professor and chairman of the art department at San Antonio College. He was also a founding member of the Con Safo art group.
His Humanscapes paint a canvas within the canvas, a nod to the drive-in movie screen, and added a title plate below. With that format he took apart the images American media made of the people watching it.