Christina Ramberg

Christina Ramberg examined how clothing, hairstyles and conventions shape the body. Born in 1946, she studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and belonged to the milieu of the Chicago Imagists. Her paintings isolate torsos, hands or locks of hair, favouring tight cropping and meticulously worked surfaces. She died in 1995.

Corsets and fabrics define silhouettes that sometimes become almost abstract constructions. Boundaries between organism, garment and object shift, while restrained colours reinforce the precision of her patterns. Ramberg developed these transformations through numerous drawings, also collecting images and documents as research materials. Her quilts extend this interest in assembly and structure. Across these different practices, she examines the forms imposed on bodies and their capacity to change, taking on new and sometimes unsettling configurations.