Untitled [Bloomers]

This drawing is one of hundreds that Ramberg made in order to explore forms and their expressive potential for paintings. While they played an important role in her process they also convey meaning about human presence and intimacy. These connotations stem from the sources from which Ramberg drew inspiration. She collected medical illustrations, paper dolls, underwear advertisements, advertisements for candy, clippings from comic books showing figures in particular gestures, pattern books, examples of tattoo flash, and other materials. Within all of this disparate material it a body that is constant, whether shown or implied through association or analogy. She had a gift for finding and accentuating formal and organic correspondences in objects. In Ramberg's drawings an empty garment can evoke memory, absences, and even mortality. In her paintings of the 1970s she used these forms as a starting point for elaborately detailed and seemingly living clothes that trap, protect, or bond with the wearers.