christina ramberg will see you now....

Bound Hand, 1973

I have mentioned several times here that I LOVE when I see something I have never seen before.

This happened again in Chicago this week when

 I walked into one of the new Modern Wing galleries at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Who is this Christina Ramberg?

Why have I never heard of her or seen her work?

I lived in Chicago, I went to grad school at the Art Institute, 

one would have thought that I would have "run into" 

her work at some point....

Well, it happened last Wednesday, and I have to say I am glad it did.

She has quite a hold on me at the moment, no pun intended....

Waiting Lady, 1972

The detail is amazing.

I find them surreal, and sexy, but disturbing at the same time....

Disturbing may be too strong of a word.

Intriguing is better.

But she seems to also be celebrating that "beauty" in a way.

You don't get a feeling that she was thinking "awful" thoughts while painting them, they seem (to me on my first viewing) to be an expression of a woman's power to take those transformations

and make them work for her, ie they "have" to do it, so let's roll with it and take back that power.

At least that is how this white male sees it.

Two Piece, 1971

Simultaneous Emergence, 1981

I like the earlier work better, this, while nice, is a little heavy handed in its message for me.

Untitled, 1974

This is so great, I could just stare at it....

Loose Beauty, 1973

If I could't steal Bound Hand, this would definitely be my second choice

 to go in the old backpack....

Her skill as a painter, just in a technical sense, scares me.

Parallel Manipulation, 1977

For your reading pleasure....