There are artists who flirt with culture, and then there are those who seduce it entirely—lipstick-smeared, credit card-swiped, and lit like a billboard on the Vegas strip. Nelson De La Nuez has long been the latter. Known across the art world as The King of Pop Art, De La Nuez is not simply part of the conversation.
He rewrites it in bold lines, platinum ink, and a smile sharp enough to cut through champagne foam.
His upcoming exhibition Made in America, opening May 2 at DTR Modern Galleries in SoHo, is no ordinary affair. It is a visual manifesto—an intoxicating blend of wit, glamour, and technique that channels the lineage of Pop masters while asserting something wholly its own: a fresh, refined satire that is both visually arresting and intellectually charged.
De La Nuez’s work has often drawn comparisons to Roy Lichtenstein, and rightly so. His command of line, color blocking, and graphic punch echoes Lichtenstein’s comic-book bravado. Yet, where Lichtenstein stopped at parody, De La Nuez dives headlong into performance. His canvases don’t reference consumer culture from afar—they dance in it, wink at it, wear it like couture. Each composition is a tableau vivant of modern mythology—Hollywood starlets, designer logos, classic Americana—all meticulously arranged, deconstructed, and recontextualized with surgical precision.
Look closer, and the influences deepen. His outlines possess the lyrical quality of Japanese ukiyo-e woodcuts—the same bold contours and flattened planes that define the genre. There is a meditative crispness to the way he frames the female form, the commercial logo, the fast-food emblem.
In De La Nuez’s world, these symbols are elevated, not worshipped, but examined. Much like the floating worlds of Hokusai and Hiroshige, his compositions hover in suspended clarity, inviting the viewer to linger, to look again, to question.
While his palette can be loud—electric pinks, jet blacks, canary yellows—the execution is methodical. There is nothing accidental in a De La Nuez. Each color is chosen for maximum contradiction: opulence meets irony, fantasy meets fact. Though frequently mistaken for digital, his brushwork is the product of meticulous layering and graphic refinement, blending traditional handcraft with contemporary sharpness. The result is a kind of visual oxymoron—handmade mass production. It is a commentary in and of itself.
De La Nuez’s brilliance lies in this paradox. His art is as accessible as a cereal box and as collectible as a Basquiat. His surfaces dazzle, yet his subtext bites. The viewer is seduced by sparkle, only to find themselves knee-deep in critique. Like a Warhol for the algorithm age, he understands that icons are currency, and that repetition is worship. In Made in America, he does not just show us what we value—he asks why.
This upcoming exhibition at DTR Modern Galleries marks a major moment for the artist and New York’s cultural calendar. The gallery, known for its museum-grade programming and unerring eye for excellence, serves as the ideal venue for De La Nuez’s aesthetic theatre. With locations in Boston, Palm Beach, and Washington D.C., DTR has become a trusted tastemaker, placing significant contemporary works in private and institutional collections around the globe.
Made in America arrives not as an echo of De La Nuez’s past triumphs, but as a refined evolution—one that sparkles with the usual mischief while cutting deeper than ever before. It reminds us that pop art, at its best, is not just about what we consume. It is about what consumes us.
Opening night reception on May 2 from 6 to 9 p.m. at DTR Modern Galleries, 458 West Broadway, Soho. On view through May 30. For info, visit dtrmodern.com.
