False Image Decal

Christina Ramberg’s work deals with conventional notions of female beauty and the gendered body. This decal features the subject matter of her early mature work: anonymous heads seen from behind that were recognizably female only because of their hairstyles. The three separate stickers on transparent film depict melodramatic moments in a girl’s life inspired by the art form and vernacular of comic strips. Each sticker may be construed separately, or as a series, in which Ramberg represents matters of the heart in her own developing artistic language. The contemporaneous Pop Art paintings by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) are likely a point of reference.

This decal was printed for the second group exhibition entitled False Image in 1969 at the Hyde Park Art Center on the South Side of Chicago that, in addition to Ramberg, included Roger Brown, Eleanor Dube, and Philip Hanson. It is one of four decals each designed by one of the artists from their original drawings and each artist included his or her own text on the backs of the decals. (See Smart Museum 1994.67a-d, 2001.580 a-d). The stencils were cut by Roger Brown and transferred to screens for commercial screenprinting. They were distributed altogether in one envelope with a cut-out frame window. (See 1994.67e.)