Imboden has shown her photography work in groups and solo shows at galleries and museums throughout the United States, South America, Europe and China.
Connie Imboden's first book, Out of Darkness, with essays compiled by Charles-Henri Favrod and A.D. Coleman, which won the Silver Medal in Switzerland's "Schonste Bucher Aus Aller Welt (Most Beautiful Book in the World)" Award in 1993.
Following "Out of Darkness", Imboden released two monographs in 1999. The first, "Beauty of Darkness", features 80 images of her work produced between 1986 and 1998. It also featured introductions by A.D. Coleman and Arthur Ollman. The second book, "The Raw Seduction of Flesh", features work produced in 1998 and an introduction by Mitchell Snow.
Her most recent monograph, "Reflections; 25 Years of Photography", was published in 2009 by Insight Editions with essays by Arthur Ollman, Julian Cox and John Wood.
Imboden was introduced to photography during the summer following her junior year of high school when she enrolled in a Basic Photography course at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Previously showing no interest in art, she was inspired by Diane Arbus's work and her expression through photography. It quickly became a passionate pursuit that would last a lifetime.
Experimenting with negatives by cutting, scratching, and melting them, Imboden's early images are introspective self-portraits that show early signs of the psychological qualities that would eventually become characteristic of her work. Many of these photographs depict the representation of masks, another recurring theme through Imboden's career.[2]
Working with water
Dead Silences I, 1987
Imboden's work with water began in 1983, while out photographing, she became intrigued by specular bursts of sunlight bouncing off puddles after a heavy rain. She continued to explore the reflective properties of water until one day a friend volunteered to model nude in a stream Imboden had been photographing in. The human form, distorted, reflected, and transformed as it was submerged in water, would eventually become the inspiration for her life's work.
Imboden would continually discover new ways to explore her subject matter. Her early images incorporate the moving water of streams or the unavoidable reflection of trees. These are graphic elements that further transform the figure in ways that heighten the psychological aspect of the work. Later, in images such as Dead Silences I & II, Imboden photographed above the surface of a black lined kiddie pool, which improved the visibility of the reflection as well as the magnification and refraction of the water. The images working with this method illustrate elongated forms, fluid and often tranquil due to the stillness of the water.
Imboden's work with the human form and water incorporate three distinct layers; the body above the surface of the water, its reflection, and the body submerged. When she eventually began photographing underwater, she would also use the meniscus of the water to further distort and transform the body. Her images throughout the years of 1997–2000 feature bizarre, organic forms – familiar in their flesh but alien in their reconstructed form. In an interview, Imboden is quoted as saying "... there is nothing more repulsive nor more attractive to us than flesh. This confrontation with flesh in an unidentified form makes us uncomfortable. We don’t know what we are looking at, but we know it is human.”
[2]
Working with mirrors
Connie Imboden, Self Portrait, 1990
Photographing models in water was not an option during the cold winter months for Imboden. To continue to deal with reflections and human figures throughout the year, she began using mirrors in 1989." The problem was that the mirrors only provided one reflective layer, instead of the three. She had grown accustomed to working with what models that displayed potential to distort and transform the figure. Her early attempts at disrupting the clean and crisp reflections involved smearing oil on the mirror's surface, as seen in Untitled #2455.
Seeking to alter the surface even further, Imboden, began scratching the silver backing off of the mirrors she was working with and making them transparent in some places while still reflective in others. Putting a model behind the mirror made them visible in the areas where the mirror was transparent, a model in front can be seen in the parts that are still reflective. Through the relationship of the models in front of and behind the mirror, as well as her camera angle, she discovered a similar effect to the refractive properties of the water. In the only self-portrait she produced since the 1970s, Self Portrait 1990, Imboden, imperfectly lines up her profile in front of the mirror with a models face behind the mirror, creating a distorted portrait by combining two different views into one, reminiscent of the quality of space in a Cubist painting.
The smearing and scraping of the mirrors soon lead to generating a marred, scratched texture on their surface. Resembling the "hatching" technique in medieval printmaking. Many of Imboden's images that illustrate this texture have a dark, mythological quality to them, as in Untitled #3573. By incorporating this texture with the model showing through from behind the mirror and the one reflected in front, Imboden was once again working with three distinct layers.
[2]
Working with color
Early example of the artist's work incorporating color into photographing the body underwater.
As photographing with film became more challenging with the medium's overwhelming shift to digital in the early 2000's, Imboden began working with a digital camera in 2008. These early explorations revealed yet another layer for transforming and redefining the human form, incorporating color into her images for the first time. Due to the transformative effects that water has on the perception of color- specifically the absorption of longer, warmer wavelengths of light- Imboden's early color images drastically separate forms seen above versus below the water's surface. Her methods for lighting the body exaggerate this differentiation, giving the body outside the water an ethereal, flame-like feel that contrasts with the hardened, cold, stone-like feel of the body underneath.
Early example of the artist's work incorporating color into photographing the body seen through and reflected in mirrors.
With a newfound passion and enthusiasm to explore this new dimension, Imboden would eventually try to recreate the same effect in a complex studio environment, revisiting her work with the mirrors with the addition of an assortment of gels, colored backdrops, and cloths. Much of the work created through this process has a more psychological, sometimes narrative quality, often depicting figures that bear resemblances to archetypal characters throughout mythology.
[3]
Personal life
Imboden is married to Dr. Patricia Dwyer. The couple live in Maryland.[4]
Education, teaching experience, and boards/affiliations
Reflections: 25 Years of Photography by Connie Imboden, published by Insight Editions. Preface by Julian Cox, foreword by John Wood, Introduction by Arthur Ollman
2007
Connie Imboden, La Oscuridad Divina Catalogue Museo Metropolitano
2006
Connie Imboden: Re-Fromation, catalogue
2003
Imboden Photographs Catalogue
2001
Piercing Illusions, Published by Foto Books Press, San Francisco & New York, text by John Wood, Interview by John Weiss
1999
Beauty of Darkness, Monograph published by Custom and Limited Editions Text by Arthur Ollman, and A.D.Coleman
Raw Seduction of Flesh Monograph published by Silver Arts, London England Text by Mitchell Snow
1998
Inter U terus Catalogue, Published By Gomez Gallery
1996
"Connie Imboden" Catalog for Museo Alejandro Otero
1993
Connie Imboden Conversation by Jean–Claude Lemagny, Text by Robert Pujade, Published by GalerieMunicipale du Chateau d'Eau, Toulouse, France.
1992
Out of Darkness by Connie Imboden. Text by AD Coleman and Charles Henri Favrod Edited and published by Esther Woerdehoff, Zurich and Paris. Printed in Switzerland.
Baltimore Magazine, "The Puppet Master" by Gabriella Souza, February 2017
The OD Review, "v2.18 / Connie Imboden’s Infirm Delight"
2016
BmoreArt, "Conversations" Episode #15: Connie Imboden, Interview with Liz Donadio
The Baltimore Sun, October 14, Interview with Tim Smith
2015
">>Love is…<<", inFocus galerie catalogue
Little Patuxent Review, COVER Feature, Issue 17-Winter 2015
The Stone Mag: unveiling the secrets of transmutation, 2015 n. 0
2014
The Photographer’s Playbook: 307 Assignments and Ideas
NORMAL Magazine, No. 4, Autumn 2014
2013
FOTO, "Connie Imboden, Reflections of Man" October 2013
2010
Georgia Review, "Danse Macabre". Front and back cover and inside portfolio
2008
Focus Magazine, "Fire and Water" 1/8/08
RS Magazine, "Connie Imboden" June 2008
2007
Foto Mundo, "La Oscuradad Divina" June 2007 2006 – Baltimore Sun, Wednesday April 12, Arts & Society 2005 – Inked Magazine, cover, Spring Premiere Issue
2003
Baltimore Sun, November 2, Arts & Society
Baltimore City Paper, December 3, 2003 " Art"
Towson Times, December 3, 2003, Life Times
2002
Ag, Volume November 29, 2002, "Running Deeper: The Metamorphes of Connie Imboden," A.D. Coleman
Photovision: Art & Technique
Foto & Video February 2002
2001
Zoom, July 2001 "Connie Imboden", David Crosby
PHOTOgraphic, July 2001 "Connie Imboden: Troubled Waters", Jay Jorgensen
2000
B&W Magazine, June 2000 "Connie Imboden Body Transformer" Shawn O'Sullivan, Issue 7
Photographie, June 2000 "Connie Imboden" PortfolioPhotoPlus, June 2000 "THE BODY, Distortions and Realities" Ghislaine De La Villeguerin
1999
Baltimore Magazine, Sept 1999, "Connie Imboden"
Baltimore Sunday Sun, September 12, Arts and Society "Body Language" Glenn McNatt
Photo Metro, Vol17 Issue 155 "Connie Imboden"
1998
The Photo Review, Fall 1998, Vol 21 #4, "Connie Imboden" by Susan Ciccotti
Master Breasts, Aperture Publishing, New York City
1997
Leg, Donna Karan Inc., General Publishing Group
1995
Women Artists, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Susan Fisher Sterling
Zoom Magazine, Milan, Italy
Photodom Magazine January "Connie Imboden: Out Of Darkness", Taiwan
1994
Valokuva Finnish Photography, November, "Connie Imboden Vesi Ja Peili" Helsinki Finland
Tradition and the Unpredictable, Catalog for the show at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
