Artist Ramiro Gomez worked as a live-in nanny in West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the Laurel Canyon area of the Hollywood Hills from 2009-2011. During this time, he began his series of works “Happy Hills,” which was inspired by his daily observations of life and his complex relationship with the family for whom he worked. In his art, Gomez, a child of Mexican immigrants, features the workers who are an integral but invisible part of wealthy society in Los Angeles. His images interrupt the mainstream commercial narrative by introducing a critical human element. “While I worked as a nanny, I realized the luxurious image of the Hollywood Hills was far different from the reality. I want to respond to these advertisements to bring a consciousness based on my experience. By painting directly on the surface, I feel empowered to bring out a truth I feel. The modifications I make with acrylic paint change the original strategy of the magazine advertisement … My motive is to create empathy with the figure’s labor and intervene in the bourgeois spaces that shape the seemingly endless desire for material interests at their expense.” More here.