I am constantly visiting flea markets and estate sales searching for objects that give me pause. From old shoes and worn books, to rusty screwdrivers and battered crutches. These discarded and overlooked objects come home to my Oakland-based studio. There, my haul of the neglected are repurposed into assemblage sculptures and installations primarily addressing social, cultural, and political topics.
My work is material-based and process oriented. The objects I collect are used for their connotative, associative or narrative possibilities. I juxtapose and modify items with careful consideration and decisive intent—nothing is accidental. The materials I use challenge viewers to consider multiple references to understand the full meaning of my work. I want my audience to think beyond an object’s physical confines and ask: What are the associative qualities of these objects referring to?
Clint Imboden
B. 1953, St Louis, Missouri.
Clint Imboden is an assemblage artist whose sculptures and immersive installations address contemporary social and political topics in unprecedented ways. His work recycles discarded and neglected items sourced from local flea markets and estate sales, making use of odds and ends from chest x-rays and prison mugshots, to bicycle rims, paintbrushes, and hammers. Imboden’s art challenges viewers to consider each individual item and the associative qualities it brings to the whole in order to decipher the significance of a piece.
Imboden’s work can be found in public collections both nationally and internationally, including, the San Antonio Museum of Art (TX), Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (Colombia), the Milwaukee Art Museum (WI), the di Rosa Preserve (CA), and the Alameda County Public Art Collection (CA).
Imboden has been commissioned by the SF Curran (CA), Hyatt Place Hotel (CA), and Sherwood Designs (CA).
Clint Imboden currently lives and works out of his Oakland home-studio.