Rita Ackermann (b. 1968) has been exhibiting her work globally since the mid-1990s. The contradictory forces of creation and destruction define her technique, which keeps changing as it moves from representation to abstraction. Although Ackermann works in a variety of media and styles, including painting, drawing, and collage, her creations always occupy a zone between the figurative and the abstract. Her scenes appear simultaneously staged for the audience and inwardly surreal; they frequently reference and borrow from a wide range of visual sources, such as punk-rock album jackets and illustrated fairy tales. Ackermann spent her early life in Budapest, pursuing her studies at the University of Fine Arts, and later moved to New York to study at The New York Studio School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture. She initially gained recognition for her portrayals of Gauguin-inspired portrayals of almond-eyed girls, which she was commissioned to create for the New Museum in 1994.

Ackermann’s works have been featured in numerous solo exhibitions, including those at MASI Lugano in Switzerland (2023), Malmö Konsthall in Sweden (2016), and the Swiss Institute Contemporary Art in New York (2010) as well as group exhibitions at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Connecticut (2013), The New Museum (2011), and the Museum of Modern Art (2011). Ackermann was also the subject of a retrospective at Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami in 2012 and participated in the 2008 Whitney Biennial.