INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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ARTIST'S DRAWINGS ON DISPLAY AT HERRON ILLUSTRATE ARTISTIC PROCESS

INDIANAPOLIS - The process, not the product, is the focus of a new exhibition that opens from 5-7 p.m at Herron Gallery, Herron School of Art, 1701 N. Pennsylvania St., on March 21. "Christina Ramberg Drawings," gives visitors the opportunity to see the creative process behind the work of the late influential Chicago artist, Christina Ramberg.

"Christina Ramberg was an artist who took her inspiration from simple, everyday sorts of imagery - advertisements, medical illustrations, hand-made storefront signs and the like," said Herron Gallery Director David Russick, who knew Ramberg. "She absorbed the visual essence that sort of imagery offers all of us, and from it she created her own visual language. The drawings in this exhibit, most of which were never intended for public exhibition, will reveal that process to the curious, careful viewer."

Ramberg, who died in 1995, gained inspiration from daily objects which she captured in copious photos, sketches and notes. The exhibit captures her prolific examination of these objects which she sketched in thousands of drawings, altering and transforming them into her final paintings. She is best known for her paintings of bound female torsos cropped at the head and knees.

The work in the exhibit, originally curated for Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has never before been displayed to the public.

Ramberg, born in 1946 in Fort Campbell, Ky., both graduated from and was a faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Such prestigious collections as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City currently hold her work.

"It is terrible that Christina died so young," said Russick. "She was a complex, energetic person, and a gifted artist. Ultimately, her loss is ours. That too can be gleaned from a thoughtful examination of these drawings."

The exhibit will be open through April 14.

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