In a storybook-like display typical of the artist's style, "Cold Turkey" is a hard-edged portrayal of a young, half-dressed woman performing within a vague yet well-constructed narrative. Reflecting a gritty side of the fashionable culture of New York City in the 1990s, Ackermann presents the various stages of pain and suffering associated with drug addiction. Depicted in the foreground with a syringe, Ackermann’s female subject is simply rendered in a black outline with a splatter of red paint appearing where the needle pierces. Following the paint splatter and her through the phases of overdose to the left, the viewer is ultimately confronted by the protagonist’s untimely death and her final resting place within the faint outline of a church.

Hungarian-American artist, musician and curator Rita Ackermann (b. 1968) explores the fantasies and fetishes of social and gender roles, as reflected in the seemingly glamorous culture of 1990s New York. Her representations of provocative and youthful female figures, often produced through collage or drawing, question traditional painting approaches while also reflecting on contemporary identity. Ackermann studied at the University of Fine Arts Budapest from 1989 to 1992 before moving to New York to study at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture. In 2012, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, FL organized a mid-career retrospective of Ackermann’s work. Her work has also been featured in recent solo shows at Hauser & Wirth, London, England (2012); Ludwig Múzeum, Budapest, Hungary (2011); The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2011); Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France (2010); Rebecca Camhi Gallery, Athens, Greece (2010); Peter Kilchmann Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland (2009); and Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, NY (2008).