RECENT NEWS
The Whitney acquires Humanscape No. 56
Following its showing in Sixties Surreal (September 2025–January 2026), Humanscape 56 (San Antonio Circus) entered the Whitney's permanent collection in 2026.
It joins Casas' works at the MoMA, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Crystal Bridges, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the McNay, SAMA, and others.
Humanscape No. 56 (San Antonio Circus '69). 1969 Acrylic/canvas 72 x 96 in. Whitney Museum of American Art; acquired 2026.
Selected Humanscapes
Humanscapes 1 - 32
(1965 - 1967)
Humanscapes 33 - 93
(1967 - 1977)
Humanscapes 94 - 150
1978 -1989
1965 - 1967
1968 - 1977
1975 - 1981
Cinema & Sexuality
The drive-in screen as a frame for desire and spectatorship.
Political paintings
Advertising stereotypes and the Chicano movement.
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
Culture Commons Gallery
San Antonio TX
2025
Whitney Museum : Sixties Surreal
New York NY
2024
Pérez Art Museum Miami
Miami FL
2019
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington D.C.
2019
Crystal Bridges Museum
Bentonville AR
About the Artist
A painter of the American screen
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.