Alex Melamid gained notoriety during his almost forty years of collaboration with fellow Russian-born artist Vitaly Komar: together they invented Sots Art, a subversive combination of American Pop Art and traditional Socialist Realist painting. The Holy Hip-Hop! paintings present a stylistic move away from the artist’s past. Melamid’s life-size portraits capture the larger than life personas embodied by these men, who are among the wealthiest and most influential individuals of our time. Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Common, Kanye West, Reverend Run, L.T. Hutton, Lil Jon, Don "Magic" Juan, Whoo Kid, Marc Ecko and Russell Simmons are portrayed by the artist as they are in life, serious, ambitious, powerful and compelling. Dressed in their everyday clothes, these twelve men are rendered with Old Master style and quality, recalling the brushstrokes of Rembrandt and the courtly style of royal European portraiture. Melamid explores art, power and commodity with the underlying wit that has long elevated his work.

Melamid was introduced to his subjects by his son, Dan "Dan the Man" Melamid, a music video director working in the hip-hop industry. For two years, from 2003 to 2005, Melamid spent time with each of the men, got to know them, then photographed and drew them as the basis for his paintings. "Art is the key that unlocked a door that would not have opened for me," said Melamid. "I thought it would be interesting to paint the men of hip-hop using the traditional European style I have been perfecting for 40 years."

The exhibition Holy Hip-Hop! was first presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), from February through April 2008, where it generated great interest and record-breaking attendance. Forum Gallery is pleased to bring Holy Hip-Hop! to New York city, a birthplace of Hip-Hop music and culture and the foundation of Alex Melamid’s inspiration.