As part of the larger exhibition, “In A Pictorial Framework,” Phyllis Bramson presented Myths of Inspiration, her first attempt to realize her concepts as an installation piece. The expressive and narrative nature of Bramson’s work linked it to the Chicago Imagists; she made her home there for more than fifteen years. She shared the Imagists’ use of personal subject matter and sense of surreal occurrence and interest in kitsch, but her works were less harsh and had no tendency toward abstraction. She explored ephemeral contrasts of dark and light, the richness of theatrical color, and odd perspectives of observation.

Each tableaux in this installation explored Bramson’s personal or fantasized myths concerning art-making. The viewer followed Bramson’s confrontation with the elements of art-making and became involved with the process and actual space of the work, sharing in her theatrical and illogical world. Her convictions, as well as her intoxication with the theatrical and sensual, enabled Bramson to probe the many facets of her own interior dramas. She described her work as, a constant stream of spectacle and activity, “like Burlesque.”