New images...

Art New England Review

Another excellent review! This is for the show at The University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor, ME. The show looks fantastic by the way and will be up through September 19, 2009. For more information on the show, click here.

I'm thrilled to receive this wonderful review from Carl Little in Art New England Magazine, featured in the August/September issue:

Elegant Darkness: Photographs by Connie Imboden

"Black-and-white, when its full potential is realized, renders all other colors unnecessary," the painter Wolf Kahn one wrote about Emily Nelligan's charcoal drawings, The same can be said of the photographs of Connie Imboden. While the Baltimore-based artist has explored color in her recent years, the twenty pieces in Elegant Darkness, dating from 1987 to 2005, offer a rich palette, with tones ranging from silvery white to pitch black.

Imboden's stature as a world-class photographer is based on her compelling images of bodies transformed by water. Over the years she has explored the intersection of physical form and liquid medium. In her photographs, torsos, limbs, and visages stretch and twist into new configurations that are often gorgeous and frequently disturbing.

In a number of pieces, we witness Ovid-like metamorphoses. In Untitled 6243, for example, a male figure appears to be turning into (or emerging from) driftwood. At times, the makeover seems cruel: the face in Untitled 9053 undergoes a torturous rearrangement by way of a metal contraption right out of an S&M accessory catalogue. In each case, it is the H20 that creates the illusion.

The nineteen silver gelatin prints and one archival inkjet print in the exhibition bring to mind diverse artists and aesthetics. Earlier pieces, such as Sainthood and Visceral Thoughts (both 1987), might be stills from a Jean Cocteau film, where disembodied heads surreally float in a watery landscape. Just as we read labia in the folds of Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers, so the viewer may connect the fleshy snail shape in Untitled 8067 to something sexual. The diving figure in Untitled 1721 recalls the paintings of Lorraine Shemesh, who shares Imboden's fascination with the distortions that occur when a figure moves through water.

The exhibition was organized to mark the recent publication of Imboden's Reflections: 25 Years of Photography (Insight Editons, 2009). A long-time professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Maine Media Workshop, the artist has earned this retrospective treatment through a commitment to investigating the exquisite mysteries of the human form.

-Carl Little

The opening at Heineman Myers Contemporary Art was great!  Lots of interesting folks and good conversations.  There was also a wonderful review at the Falls Church News-Press by Kevin Mellema on March 18, 2009:

FCNP Review

and the exhibition at the DCCA was also reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer on March 13th 2009 by Victoria Donohue:

Philadelphia Inquirer Review

The Heineman Myers show is up until April 25th, 2009 and the DCCA is up until April 12th, 2009

 

Shoot of 2-12-09

Upcoming Show: Heineman Myers Contemporary Art

March 14 - April 25, 2009

Opening Reception & Book Signing: March 14, 2009
Reception begins at 6pm

Book signing begins at 5pm, and will be featuring the new book,
"Reflections: 25 Years of Photography by Connie Imboden"

Here's the gallery info:

Heineman Myers Contemporary Art
4728 Hampden Lane
Bethesda, MD 20814
www.heinemanmyers.com
301-951-7900

Click on the logo above to visit heinemanmyers.com : )

NEW BOOK!!!

Reflections

25 Years of Photographs

by Connie Imboden

Preface by Julian Cox

Foreward by John Wood

Introduction by Arthur Ollman

150 Images

184 Pages

Published by Insight Editions February 2009

$50. + $5. shipping

To purchase via Paypal

From the inside jacket:
"The raw conviction of what is on display may solicit a myriad of responses and adjectives - passionate, beautiful, haunting, terrifying -all can be invoked to describe a Connie Imboden photograph." Julian Cox

When I first discovered the beauty and complexity of reflections and the human body in 1983, I had no idea it would continue to fascinate me to this day, 25 years after the fist exploration in a puddle of water. "Reflections" features 150 images that represent some of my favorite discoveries throughout the years, including some never before published black and white images and a selection of brand new color work. The project of putting this book together has drawn connections between some of the threads that have come up in this exploration from the beginning, as well as revealed new meaning and metaphors in both old and recent photographs. I'm thrilled with the outcome of "Reflections" - the reproductions are beautiful, the essays are eloquent, and seeing these images in this format has once again renewed my passion for my life's work.

"Reflections: 25 Years of Photography by Connie Imboden" begins shipping on February 20th, but you can order now via Paypal by clicking the link above. For other payment inquiries, or for more info, please e-mail me at

connie@connieimboden.com