FEATURED ARTIST OF THE MONTH 2014

Irene Imfeld

Irene Imfeld's photographs of landscapes and objects capture a sense of absence - of architecture, man or nature made, left behind. Her most recent series, Vacant Nests, uses deceased members of the artist's zebra finch flock as subjects. These highly abstract compositions focus on the exquisite detail of the birds' anatomy. While one feels the sense of a living being-turned-object, the tone is closer to fascination than mourning. 

Irene Imfeld has had solo exhibitions at the Bolinas Museum and the Fresno Art Museum, both in 2007, and has participated in many group shows nationally and internationally. She co-owns and directs exhibits at PHOTO, a gallery in Oakland, California, where her work will be on view September 4 through October 4, 2014. She also has work currently on view at ACCI gallery in Berkeley. 

Artist Statement

Photography has a peculiar relationship to the real world. Through my practice of photography I offer depictions of the real, worth contemplating because they are real.

Through photography I relate my experience as an observer—and as one part of the world observed. This prompts me to look closely at what exists in my physical surroundings. For a long time I was fascinated with landscape, especially deserts and mountains where land forms are evident. My visual interests gradually became more inclusive as I connected the traces of time in nature with the anonymous marks of the process of human life.

Habitually working within the limits of a rectangle on paper has increased my emphasis on printing. I do all my own digital processing and printing, always balancing meticulous detail with expressive composition, sometimes veering towards abstraction.

Click here to visit the artist's website.