blog.ConnieImboden.com

Connections, Resemblances, and Associations

2012-03-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Last week, I gave a lecture and presentation on my work as a guest at The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles. The slide talk went very well, and the audience was wonderful.

Every time I give a slide presentation of my portfolio, I try to update it to include my latest work. Not only does it keep the talk fresh and up to date, but it gives me the opportunity to reinterpret some of the older images and sometimes see things in a new context. Looking at some of the older images with a broader and more developed understanding of the work can provide new insights on what I've done in the past. In preparing for my talk at The Annenberg, I did something I've been meaning to do for a long time...

When I made the image I call "Dead Silences", I was in my second year of grad school. In a critique with 8 fellow students and the professor, one student mentioned that it reminded them of a "Janus" face. Rather than admit that I had never heard of "Janus" before, I nodded in agreement with most of the other students who seemed to understand what this statement meant. I did however research it afterwards, and was surprised at just how accurate this observation was:

According to Wikipedia- "In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. He is usually a two-faced god since he looks to the future and the past."

The resemblance of Janus in this image still fascinates me to this day, and was only the first of several instances in which one of my images resonated with an unintentional reference.

I had been thinking about this a lot since seeing the connection between one of my recent images and Masaccio's "The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden". For the slide talk at The Annenberg, I thought it might be fun to illustrate some of the other inadvertent analogies that have appeared in some of my work...

- Click the jump below to read more -

This seemed like a good place to start. I've always been inspired by Francis Bacon's work, so unlike Dead Silences and Janus I was aware of the connection here. What excites me about this however is that I had not set out to make this image look so much like a Bacon piece. As I mentioned in the blog post referenced above, when I go into a shoot, I don't have an image in mind, or even an idea of what I want to convey. Although I saw the connection immediately, I had not intended to create it.

The Bacon reference above was obvious to me without illustrating it with a side by side comparison, but I found seeing it and being able to show it to others was a lot more interesting than simply talking about it. It made me look at some other images in my portfolio and think about other potential connections.

I've always felt that the figure in this image had a majestic air to her. She seems to have a regal or royal quality, beautiful and yet vulnerable or delicate. I've also felt like there was something egyptian about her, maybe due to her stance or that weird thing on her head that looks like a bizarre headdress. I started doing Google image searches for "egyptian headdress" and was amazed at what came up:

and better yet:

I LOVED seeing the relationship between these images! I was thrilled at how much the "headdress" shape on the figure in my photograph resembled the ancient crowns of egyptian royalty! In my excitement, I showed the connection to a friend, who thought of another extraordinary resemblance:

Apparently there is a body alteration practice common in ancient Mayan and Incan cultures called "head binding", in which the human skull is artificially and intentionally deformed. This method of cranial deformation was done by binding wood and/or cloth to an infants head to distort its normal growth, and was most likely done to signify social status. I thought this was such a bizarre relationship, and such a cool connection to something I'd never heard of!

Another recent image with an unintentional reference was this one taken just last year:

This was an early favorite color image of mine, and as with a lot of the recent color work photographing in the mirrors, I felt that it had an undeniably classical religious quality to it. It specifically made me think of early Christian imagery. The hands looking cut off gives the figure the feel of a martyr, and something about the gesture and the cross made by the scratches near the head reminded me of Joan of Arc. It inspired me to do another Google image search for early images of Joan, and I was again thrilled by the results:

Seeing these made me reinterpret the "cross" by her head as more like the hilt of a sword. This was a very cool discovery- not only do the scratches in the mirror resemble her sword, but it appears in the same vicinity as some of these other images I found- right near her head as she gazes towards the heavens. Once again, I hadn't set out to create an image that bore a likeness to Joan of Arc, it was only seeing it afterwards that I had the impression or feeling that it did. Finding these other depictions helped illustrate just how much it resembled her likeness.

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and a close colleague of Sigmund Freud's. Feeling that Freud's model of the unconscious was incomplete, Jung developed several theories that offer a deeper analysis of the human psyche. One of his most notable theories includes the idea of a third layer to the mind- the collective unconscious. While our unconscious contains our personal trauma, the collective unconscious is where we store patterns, symbols, and information that describe our basic humanity. He relates the notion of the collective unconscious to instincts, an aspect of our psyche that is complete at birth and hereditary in nature, and informs our behavior although we're not consciously aware of it.

Jung believed that the primary content of the collective unconscious could be referred to as archetypes. Similar to the idea of motifs in mythology, these archetypes are the themes, forms, or expressions that are universal to mankind, establishing a fundamental connection to people of all cultures and a link between past, present, and future. When an artist expresses an archetype through a piece it is given form, form that is relevant and significant to the time. According to Jung, artistic expressions that affect us deeply and that endure resonate from the collective unconscious.

When I began researching Jung and his theories on the collective unconscious, it explained the unintentional resemblance to the sometimes mythological iconography in my work. These inadvertent connections to other symbols and forms in history and art make sense when I think of them this way. In addition to giving context and understanding as to why these accidental connections have emerged in my work throughout the years, my studies of Jung and his theories have provided valuable motivation to continue making work.

IRIS Nights Presents: An Evening With Connie Imboden

2012-03-13T08:36:00.001-07:00

IRIS Nights Presents: An Evening With Connie Imboden Newsletter

Reflections: An Evening with Connie Imboden

Thursday, March 22, 6:30-8:00pm

Connie Imboden has spent more than 30 years using photography to examine, distort and redefine the human body.

Imboden's work is in the collections of many major museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, the Bibliotheque Nationale in France and the Ludwig Museum in Germany. Her photographs have been exhibited in an extensive range of group and solo shows at galleries and museums throughout Europe, the United States, South America and most recently China.

Her first book of images, Out of Darkness, won the Silver Medal in Switzerland's "Schonste Bucher Aus Aller Welt (Most Beautiful Book in the World)" competition in 1993. Her most recent book, Reflections was released in 2009.

Imboden currently teaches photography at the Maryland Institute College of Art as well as many workshops around the world.

Imboden's photographs, seen through the camera and free from darkroom or computer enhancement, display the strangeness of reality in an age of digital manipulation. She will discuss the technical issues involved in relying on her vision to transform the subject matter and how an intuitive creative process has kept her fascinated with the same body of work throughout the years.

Tickets for this event will be released online on Wednesday, March 14 at 12 noon and Thursday, March 15 at 9:30am. Once tickets are released, you may register by clicking here. Each person is limited to two tickets.

Please note that our lectures tend to fill up quickly. Don't be discouraged if you are unable to get tickets through our online ticketing system. The standby list for each lecture begins at 5pm on the day of the event in person at the Photography Space. About 10 minutes prior to the start of the lecture, we release any seats that have not been claimed by ticketholders to our standby guests. Out of respect to our speaker and the other guests, late arrivals to the lecture are discouraged.

FOR MORE EVENT INFO, CLICK HERE!

The Annenberg Space for Photography | 2000 Avenue of the Stars, #10 | Los Angeles | CA | 90067

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lynda.com debut!

2012-01-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

Back in June, I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Ben Long at The Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute workshops. In addition to his work with many magazines such as MacWeek, MacUser, Macworld, and CreativePro.com, Ben is also a regular contributor to lynda.com, an award winning online instructional video library.

lynda.com produces thousands of video tutorials and training on various topics. While most of their video's feature courses on software, they have been working towards focusing on where creativity and technology intersect. Some of their latest videos are aimed at educating not just the practical aspects of a given discipline, but the artistic understanding and creative vision that can be applied.

Ben Long's Foundations of Photography series has been a huge success with lynda.com, addressing technical knowledge of photography with an understanding of the aesthetics of it as well. Following our work together during the summer at Quartz mountain, Ben and I were reunited for fall courses at The Oklahoma Arts Institute. The folks at lynda.com took the opportunity to incorporate the workshop into a new course Ben was working on for the site, Foundations of Photography: Composition. We were followed by a camera crew who filmed our lectures on creativity, intuition and seeing, as well as critiques and discussions with the students.

This was such a new and fantastic project to work on, and it was wonderful to work with Ben and everyone from lynda.com. The Foundations of Photography: Composition video series was published on lynda.com on 12-23-11 and has already been a huge success, highlighting as one of the most viewed courses. I highly encourage anyone interested to check out the series, you won't be disappointed!

New Images on the Website

2011-10-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

Just added a handful of new images to the portfolio section of the website!

I've continued working with the mirrors in color, most recently playing with gels to have more control over the color and how it defines the form. The color has brought a more dynamic element to the images, and the colors I've begun incorporating have been slightly more bold than they were previously.

Check out the 2010-present section at ConnieImboden.com to see some of the latest work!

Provincetown Workshop 2011

2011-09-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

Another recent workshop I had the honor of teaching at was the Photography Workshops at The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. I've been a part of this workshop for the past 4 years, and every year has been an incredibly fun and fantastic experience.

For one thing, Provincetown is SUCH a cool place.

The Parade

The workshop was August 14th-19th, which happens to be one of the biggest weekends of the summer for this little town. On August 18th, we had the chance to see the town's Gay Pride Parade, a truly outrageous, fun, and all around extravagant event. It was such a blast, you never knew what was next...

The Fine Arts Work Center

The Fine Arts Work Center is brimming with creative energy; everyone is inspired and excited to be participating. I had a wonderful time when one night, my class and Cathy Bowman's poetry class got together over cookies and wine to discuss creativity and the creative process. We had some really excellent discussions on the idea that metaphors can be visual, and these "visual metaphors" can enhance and create new meaning. Some of my assignments take idea's like these, where verbal language and visual art intertwine and overlap with one another. Cathy was also interested in these concepts, and was interested in transforming some of my photo assignments into verbal ones, encouraging her students to stretch the meaning of words. We were thrilled at the idea of doing a collaborative workshop, and hopefully some day we'll have the opportunity. In the meantime, here's a shot of Cathy at the parade:

The Students

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” – Proust

The students at Provincetown were, as usual, wonderful. They were so eager to explore the idea of "seeing with new eyes" and developing a more intuitive visual approach to photography. Encouraging process over product and intuition over reason, the assignments are admittedly challenging, but the students handled them brilliantly. Their work was simply outstanding, and I was more than impressed by the work they did:

Ann Falvey, "Spatial Relationships" assignment

Da Xu, "Ordinary as Extraordinary" assignment (it's a folder).

Toby Taber, "Spatial Relationships" assignment

Tom Geyer, "Spacial Relationships" assignment

Margery Gans, "Light As Subject" assignment

Gina Campbell, "Spatial Relationships" assignment

Thank You!

I was thrilled to have such extraordinary students and to see them make such exceptional work. THANK YOU ALL for your hard work, dedication, and eagerness to learn! It was a joy working with all of you, and I hope you continue to expand your vision and explore the world without expectations or assumptions.

And of course, big thanks to the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown! It was -as always- a pleasure to be teaching one of your workshops, and I look forward to being a part of the Summer Program again in the future!

OSAI Workshop in Oaklahoma

2011-07-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last month, I was honored to be part of a workshop at The Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at the beautiful Quartz Mountain Arts and Conference Center. The two week long intensive program is aimed at the education and advancement of high school age students in the arts, including acting, creative writing, ballet, modern dance, orchestra, chorus, drawing and painting, photography, and film and video. It is an amazing academy and an excellent resource for gifted young artists. I found the students to be fantastic, all of them bright, enthusiastic and eager to learn.

Team Photo

Working alongside brilliant photographers Konrad Eek and Ben Long, I knew we were in for a great time when these two knuckleheads launched an impromptu 20 minute comedy routine to kick things off...

Konrad teaches photography at Oklahoma City Community College and runs Maxwell Eek Design Photography, a commercial photography studio focused on product and fashion photography for wholesale and retail catalogs. Ben is a San Francisco based photographer with a long list of commercial clients, a longtime contributor to many magazines including MacWeek, MacUser, Macworld UK, and is currently a senior contributing editor for Macworld magazine and a senior editor at CreativePro.com. His book, Complete Digital Photography, now in it's 6th edition, has become something of an industry standard. Together, the three of us formed "Team Photo" and had a blast sharing our diverse passion and knowledge of photography. (Taking notes myself during their lectures, I found the students weren't the only ones who had something to learn.)

The Lecture

It was a wonderful experience! Upon arriving, I gave a lecture and presentation of my work and never have I spoken to a more appreciative audience. The reaction from everyone was enthusiastic, with great questions and insightful responses to my work.

Oklahoma Wildlife

Even when the students weren't working on assignments, we found ourselves taking advantage of every opportunity to photograph.

Early in the first week, we pulled over on a bus trip to the city of Mangum, spotting a dead snake on the side of the road that just beckoned to be photographed.

Konrad and his new snake skin belt.

It was great fun, and when somehow word got around that we were interested in photographing dead things, students started collecting and donating dearly departed Oklahoma wildlife:

The Students

Ashley Hale

The work the students completed on their assignments was remarkable, and I couldn't be more pleased with the work they produced. In one assignment, the students were asked to see "light as subject", giving them the challenge of making light itself the main focus and subject matter of an image:

David Parks

Maggie Knobbe

Chris Tran

In another assignment, students were encouraged to photograph something in such a way that a shape in the foreground visually relates to a form in the background. It's an undertaking that is usually a lot more easier said than done, so I was very impressed with how well everyone handled this one:

Amber Griffith

Ethan Yates

The students were thrilled to do an underwater shoot, photographing models in a pool with "splash and trash" type disposable cameras.

Kaylee Howerton

Kaelea Crowell

By the time they finished cannonballing into the pool, they did a great job and came away with not only excellent images but a new appreciation for what I do and the obstacles involved in making my work.

Closing Show

The show we mounted at the end of the workshop was extraordinary and extremely professional. I am so proud of all of the students, for the outstanding work they did, and how much they grew and progressed in just two weeks. THANK YOU ALL for being such a wonderful group!

Also, thanks to The Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute for the invitation to be part of such a fantastic program and wonderful experience! And of course, special thanks to the rest of TEAM PHOTO, Konrad Eek and Ben Long! It was great not only to teach with you but learn from you as well. Hope we can do it all again soon...

Georgia Review Summer 2010 GAMMA Awards

2011-05-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Last summer, my work was featured in the Summer 2010 issue of The Georgia Review, and I was honored to have one of my images featured on the cover. A highly regarded literary journal that features everything from short stories and essays to poems and visual art, it's diverse content and outstanding quality has won The Georgia Review many awards throughout the years.

This month, the Magazine Association of the Southeast awarded The Georgia Review with seven GAMMA awards for 2010. I was thrilled to hear that the Summer 2010 issue won a Silver Award for "Best Photography" in the General Excellence Category for my portfolio, entitled "Danse Macabre". The title was taken from a long poem inspired by my work written by Susan Ludvigson, who also wrote the introduction for the feature in the journal. I couldn't be happier with the introduction and how the whole piece looked in The Georgia Review, and I'm ecstatic about the Silver GAMMA Award!

Click here to order a copy of The Summer 2010 issue of the Georgia Review.

For more about the seven awards given to The Georgia Review, click here to read about it on their blog.

Or click here for the press release.

For a complete list of this year's GAMMA Award Winners, click here.

Working With Color in the Mirrors

2011-04-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

As I've said, working in the water with color revealed new dimensions, depths, and interpretations to my work. Differences in color temperature of light above and below the surface of water revealed distinct variations that were totally unexpected, allowing me to see the same subject matter I've been working with for over 25 years in a totally new way. The color also gave form and context to certain aspects of the body and it's reflections, things that were more abstracted by black and white.

After photographing with color under water for 2 years, I decided it was time to explore how color would impact the mirror work.

This is a fairly recent image since starting work with the mirrors again a few months ago. I think the color has a similar effect on the mirror work as it did in the water- it defines a lot of the forms that were previously annihilated by black and white. The color brings with it an element of reality, and along with the notion that photography is automatically taken as truth, creates a tension with the bizarreness of the rest of the image.

The image above is one of my favorites that I've seen in the mirrors so far. A lot of the latest mirror work has had an undeniably classical religious quality to it, which is a surprise to me, because I'm not religious. When I go into a shoot, I don't have an image in mind, or even an idea of what I want to convey. After seeing this image, I couldn't help but think that not only did it feel classically Christian, but that it reminded me of something in particular. And then it struck me:

This is from "The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden", by Early Italian Renaissance painter Masaccio. I was so surprised to see the similarity not only in the gesture, but in the overall expression. There's something about the articulation of the image that feels very similar as well, something about the graphic quality...

A good friend of mine came by the studio and had a similar reaction to the image, but a different painting in mind:

"The Birth of Venus", by Sandro Botticelli. I though it was so interesting he had such a different association with the expression. The gesture is the same, but the overall feeling is so different than the one in "The Expulsion". It's also a bit more of a contrast stylistically, but definitely similar.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were other works of art, particularly with the same kind of notoriety as the two given here, that share similarities. What I find so interesting is that I hadn't planned this prior to making this image, rather, it was discovered after the fact. I also love that my friend could have such a different, but equally relevant, interpretation and/or association with an image that is just as much a surprise for me as for anyone else. I feel like that is one of the advantages of working intuitively, that it can lead to these wonderful discoveries, and bring up more interesting questions.

I'm a lousy blogger.

2011-04-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

But I'm working on being better about it. In the past year and a half- or since my last post- I've been extremely busy with a number of exciting new things:

- Continuing with the color work I started in 2008, the images have since taken off on a life of their own. They have introduced new challenges and exciting discoveries, transforming the forms I have been working with for over 25 years in ways that I have never seen before. Working in the water with color revealed new dimensions, depths, and interpretations, and working in the mirrors has been equally transformative...

- I was part of a major international photography expo in Beijing, China, organized by renowned critic A.D. Coleman. In addition to having a fabulous time, spending it with my wife Patricia and some of the most accomplished photographers working today, I also photographed much of the experiences and things I saw there...

- My workshops have been going strong and they have been an absolute joy to be teaching. It has been wonderful to work with so many gifted students, and I'm thrilled with the work they've been producing. This year I'm looking forward to more great workshops in Provincetown and Maine, and a new one in Oklahoma coming up this June...

In short, it has been an incredibly productive 17 months. I know I've been a lousy blogger, and I'm simply racked with guilt about not sharing all of this here. But in upcoming blog posts, I'm looking forward to posting some of the latest color work and how it has progressed since my last post. I'm also eager to share images from some of my recent travels, as well as lessons and student work from my workshops.

Stay tuned, the best is yet to come!

New images...

2009-10-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

Art New England Review

2009-08-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-02-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

Shoot of 2-12-09

2009-02-13T13:32:00.001-08:00

Upcoming Show: Heineman Myers Contemporary Art

2009-02-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2009-02-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

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

First shoot of 2009!

2009-01-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

Thrilled with the latest images from this week's shoot!

Light from above the water was showing ever so slightly at the line of the water, creating this really elegant and beautiful contour of the model's body. Here it is again, this time with the body above the water showing through more....

2009-01-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

My upcoming exhibition at the DELAWARE CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS

2009-01-08T09:33:00.002-08:00

2009-01-08T09:33:00.001-08:00

Still working on color stuff.

2009-01-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

2009-01-08T09:31:00.001-08:00

2009-01-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

a few new color images....

2008-04-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

2008-02-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

Michaela, Jewell, Patricia and Connie scuba diving in Bonaire.