Polaroid Figurative Photography

Making Magic (The Girl Behind the White Picket Fence) - 78x76cm, Edition of 5 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Archive Crystal Paper, matt...

It's gonna be ok (Till Death do us Part) - 2008 40x48cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid, Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inve...

Jules and Jim II (Renée's Dream) from the 29 Palms, CA series - 2007 125x123cm, Edition 3/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the original Polaroid. Certific...

Meeting in front of Church (Sidewinder) - 2007 Edition 2/5, each 30x37cm, installed 30x160cm. 4 analog C-Prints, hand-printed by the artist, based on the 4 oirginal Polaroids. Ce...

Fly! (Chicks and Chicks and sometimes Cocks) - 2019 50x50cm, Edition of 10. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Artist inventory 20050. Signature label and Certificate. Not mo...

Once We Were Warriors (Stage of Consciousness) - part of the 29 Palms, CA project - 2007 - featuring Radha Mitchell 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. digital C-Print, ...

Renée's Dream XV (Days of Heaven) Part of the 29 Palms, CA project. - 2006 Edition of 10, 20x20cm, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and certificate. Artis...

Summer Games - 2019 40 x 50 cm, Edition of 10 + 2 Artist Proofs. Photograph printed in Hanemühle Baryta Photo Rag 340gr, based on a Fuji Instant Film original (not mounted). Sig...

Princess' Kiss (Chicks and Chicks and sometimes Cocks) - 2018 49x48cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature labe...

Bring Ya to the Brink (Cyndi Lauper record Album) - 2016, 50x49cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate....

Austen and Daisy in front of Trailer IV (Till Death Do Us Part) - 2005 80x79cm, Edition 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate ...

OK Corral - part 2 - (Stranger than Paradise), - 1999, 20x20 cm, Edition 5/10, digital C-Print based on the Polaroid, Artist Inventory 318_2.18, Not mounted. Stefanie Schneider's scintillating situations take place in the American West. Situated on the verge of an elusive super-reality, her photographic sequences provide the ambience for loosely woven story lines and a cast of phantasmic characters. Schneider works with the chemical mutations of expired Polaroid film stock. Chemical explosions of color spreading across the surfaces undermine the photograph's commitment to reality and induce her characters into trance-like dream scapes. Like flickering sequences of old road movies Schneider's images seem to evaporate before conclusions can be made - their ephemeral reality manifesting in subtle gestures and mysterious motives. Schneider's images refuse to succumb to reality, they keep alive the confusions of dream, desire, fact, and fiction. Stefanie Schneider received her MFA in Communication Design at the Folkwang Schule Essen, Germany. Her work has been shown at the Museum for Photography, Braunschweig, Museum für Kommunikation, Berlin, the Institut für Neue Medien, Frankfurt, the Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, Kunstverein Bielefeld, Museum für Moderne Kunst Passau, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Foto -Triennale Esslingen. “It was Stefanie Schneider, who inspired me to start the company THE IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT after seeing her work, which seems to achieve the possible from the impossible, creating the finest of art out of the most basic of mediums and materials. Indeed, after that one day, I was so impressed with her photography that I realized Polaroid film could not be allowed to disappear. Being at the precise moment in time where the world was about to lose Polaroid, I seized the moment and have put all my efforts and passion into saving Polaroid film. For that, I thank Stefanie Schneider almost exclusively, who played a bigger role than anyone in saving this American symbol of photography.” –Florian Kaps, March 8th 2010 (“Doc” Dr. Florian Kaps, founder of “The Impossible Project”) Exhibitions Selected (selected) 2018 Participation Bombay Beach Biennale, Bombay Beach, USA (G) March Available to All, Rough Play Projects - Site Specific, Joshou Tree, USA (G) curated by Deborah Martin with Adam Berg, Doron Gazit, Kellan Barnebey, Chris Sanchez, Aili Schmelzt 2017 BLICKFELD Analoge Fotografie, Kommunale Galerie Steglitz-Zehlendorf (G) (catalog), (upcoming)
 Rosegallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica (G) Magie des Moments, Kunstverein Bad Homburg Artlantis, Bad Homburg (G) 2016 
Instantdreams, Instantdreams Gallery, Berlin 

(S) 2015
 Desert Voices, De Re Gallery, Los Angeles (G) with Pamela Littky The Ballery in Heat, The Ballery, Berlin (G) 
Blue Nudes, De Re Gallery, Los Angeles (G) 

 2014

 Summer Show, Galerie Catherine et André Hug, Paris, France (G) 6 Finalists, Saatchi Gallery London (G) 
Instantdreams, De Re Gallery, Los Angeles (S)
Grand Opening, De Re Gallery, Los Angeles (G) with Banksy, Andy Warhol, Alison Bignon, Sophie Dickens, Victor Gingembre and others
 2013 
Heather's Dream, Short, nominated for the German Short Film Award 2013 (Deutscher Kurzfilmpreis)
Images For Images (Artists fir Tichy), GASK - Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region,  Kutná Hora, Czech Republic, (G) with Richard Prince, Nan Golding, Shirana Shahbazi, Sophie Calle, Martin Kippenberger, Arnulf Rainer, Thomas Ruff, Katharina Grosse, Jonathan Meese & others (catalog) 
The Girl behind the White Picket Fence, Galerie Catherine et André Hug, Paris, France (S)
 Heather's Dream, Short, German Competition Short Film Festival Oberhausen 
Multimedia Presentation with Artist Stefanie Schneider, Palms Springs Art Museum, Annenberg Theater
 The Polaroid Years: Instant Photography and Experimentation, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY, (G) with Ansel Adams, Bruce Charlesworth...

Wonder Valley (29 Palms, CA) - 2009 including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 192 pages, hardcover, published by Snap Collective, 2024. 20x20cm...

When we were friends (Suburbia) - 2004, 28x37cm, Edition of 10, digital C-Print based on the Polaroid. Signature label with Certificate, unmounted. The project "Suburbia" was sho...

Car Wash (Stranger than Paradise) - 1999 20x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. 
 Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. 
 Certificate and Signature label. 
 A...

Revelation (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs.
 Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid.
 Signature label and Certificate.
 Artist Inv...

Bates Motel V (The Last Picture Show) - 2005, 38x36cm, Edition 2/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, matte finish, based on the original...

Sunset (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 90x112cm, Edition 2/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the original Polaroid. Artist Inventory No. 9493.02. Signature l...

Levitate (Bombay all Day) 2019 20x20cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proofs, Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid, not mounted. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist ...

Haley and the Bird Man (Haley and the Birds) - 2013 from the 29 Palms, CA Project 4 pieces 70x90cm installed, 30x40cm each. Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs,. 4 archival C-Prin...

On the Rocks II (Long Way Home), 1999 58x56cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid, Certificate and Signature la...

Nipple - Bathtime IV (29 Palms, CA) 1999, 40x40cm, Edition 1/10, Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on a Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist inventory ...

Hocus-Pocus (Beachshoot) - 2005 featuring Radha Mitchell 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. A...

'Ryan Gossling' (Stay) - 2006, 20x20cm, Edition of 2/10, digital C-Print, based on a Polaroid Certificate and Signature label artist Inventory No. 2447.02 Not mounted. Stefanie Schneider: Torsten Scheid, “Fotografie, Kunst, Kino. Revisited.”, FilmDienst 3/2006, page 11-13

 Photography Art Cinema. Revisited Stay expands a traditional connection through new facets Interwoven between the media of photography and film is a veritable mesh-work of technical, motific, metaphorical and personal interrelationships. Extending from photo-film which, as in La Jetée by Chris Marker (France, 1962) is a montage of single, unmoving photographs all the way to the portrayal of photographic motifs in Hollywood cinema―most recently in Memento (USA, 2000) and One hour photo (USA, 2002)―is the range of filmic-photographic interactions on the one hand, and from the adaption of modes of cinematic production to the imitation of film stills on the other. For instance, with the legendary Untitled Film Stills (1978) of the American artist Cindy Sherman, who later made her debut as a film director with Office Killer (USA, 1997) and thereby, like many others, changed sides: Wim Wenders, Robert Frank and Larry Clark are doubtlessly the most successful of these photographic-filmic border crossers. This brief survey provides only a vague indication of the dimensions of this intermedial field, which in fact extends much further and is constantly being cultivated. Also as a motif in film, photography has experienced a historical transformation: Photographers were once considered to be technicians who mastered a craft but never achieved the status of artists. Photographer-figures were caught in the allure of beautiful appearance, incapable of penetrating to the actual essence of things. Such depth was reserved for literature or painting. When photography in film touched upon the sphere of art, then most often as its contrasting model, as the metaphor for a superficial access to the world. Coming to mind are Fred Astaire as a singing fashion photographer in Stanley Donen’s musical film Funny Face (USA, 1957), or the restless lifestyle-photographer in Michelangelo Antonioni’s genre-classic Blow up (GB, 1966). For the doubting Thomas, only that exists which can be photographed. He ultimately enters the world of fantasy and thereby the field of art only unwillingly, when he becomes entangled in the world of his images. The last of his detail-enlargements shows only the photographic grain and has lost all connection to reality. The photograph looks as if it had been painted by Bill, the painter who is both friend and antagonist to the protagonist.

 Photography as Art It was first around the end of the last century that numerous filmmakers discovered photography as a genuine art form. In The Bridges of Madison County (USA, 1995) a sensitive Clint Eastwood stands, camera in hand, on the threshold of artistic status, and in Smoke (USA, 1994) a tobacco merchant ripens into a philosopher through his involvement in photography. Finally, in John Water’s parody of the art market, Pecker (USA, 1998), a provincial tom-fool is hyped into celebrated stardom amid the New York art scene because of his blurred snapshots. This film about a postmodern Kaspar Hauser in photographic art (with clear parallels to Richard Billingham, the British shooting star of the nineteen-nineties), not only takes into account the exponentially expanded significance of photography in the art market, but also attributes to photography an extreme degree of conformity to the “operating system” of the visual arts. This admittedly ironic equation of photography and the visual arts is new. It is repeated with much more earnestness in Lisa Chollondencko’s High Art (USA) from the same year. Artistic photography has finally become established in a cinematic context.

 
Stay Stay (USA, 2005) could have fitted in seamlessly here. Considering that the films High Art and Pecker establish photography as an ideal art form at the end of the millennium, director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) takes a step backward; he revives an anti-technical, intuitive concept of art, including the customary clichés about madness and genius. This choice documents less an anachronistic notion of art (especially considering that painting is currently experiencing a Renaissance) than instead the appraisal that paintings are more suitable for representing the free objectification of the mind. Stay is not an artist-film but rather a psycho-thriller in which the borders between dream and reality become blurred.
 The psychiatrist Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) has saved his girlfriend, the artist Lila (played by Naomi Watts) from committing suicide. Now he is attempting to keep another patient, the art student Henry Letham (Ryan Gosling...

Some Lapse of Time (The Visit Series), 2018, Edition of 10 - 40 x 40 cm. Archival C-Print based on the original Polaroid, not mounted. Signed on back and certificate. The Visit ...

Boccia VIII (Beachshoot) - 2005 30,7x30cm, sold out Edition of 68, Artist Proof 4/5 Lambda Print, based on a Polaroid Certificate and Signature label, artist Inventory # 1467. Not...

Renée's Dream - The Boys (Days of Heaven). Part of the 29 Palms, CA project. - 2006, 20x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs, archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signatu...

A Mirage (The Last Picture Show) - 2006, 50x49cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist...

Cherry Tree Blossoms (Till Death Do Us Part), 80x78cm, Edition 1/5, Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. ...

10 to Midnight (The Visit Series) - 2018 Edition of 10 - 40 x 40 cm - Archival C-Print based on the original 600 Polaroid, not mounted. Signed on back and certificate. The Visit ...

Stefanie Schneider's work was used for Marc Forster's movie 'Stay'. Featuring Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling. Naomi and Ryan were both portraying artists and Stefanie's ...

Memories of Green I, triptych, - 2003 Edition of 5, each 58x56cm, installed with gaps 58x178cm, analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on ...

Falling Stars - 2020 Edition 1/10 plus 2 Artist Proof, 20x25cm Digital Print based on an original Polaroid on Hahnemühle photo rag paper. Signature label and certificate. Not mounte...

Marilyn (Heavenly Falls) - triptych - mounted - 2016, Edition 1/10, 38x37cm each, installed 38x120cm. 3 Lambda C-Prints, based on three original Polaroids. Sandwiched in betwee...

'Hill View Motel X' (29 Palms, CA) - 1999 One Original Polaroid - Unique Piece 1/1, 7.8 x 7,7cm (image area) 10.7 x 8.7 cm ( including white Polaroid frame) Artist inventory 21982.00 This Polaroid is of the artist Stefanie Schneider taken during her 29 Palms, CA photoshoot in 1999. Signed by Stefanie on the back with the inventory number of 21364, crossed out...

Happiness (Suburbia) - 2004 28x37cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid. Signature label with Certificate, Not mounted. Artist Inventory # 1706. The works of S...

White Plastic Bucket (Stay), from Ryan Gosling's memory sequence. 2006, 85x85cm, 4 pieces, each 39x38.5cm, Edition 2/5, analog C-Prints, printed by the artist on Fuji Archive Crysta...

Untitled (Suburbia), 2004, Edition of 3/3, 50x60cm, analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on a Polaroid, not mounted, signature label and Certificate, artist Inventory No...

Moving in Together (Till Death do us Part) - 2008 125x154cm, Edition 1/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on the Polaroid. Certifi...

Renée's Dream - The Boys (Days of Heaven). Part of the 29 Palms, CA project. - 2006 50x50cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs, archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signatur...

Officer's Wives Club (29 Palms, CA), diptych - 1999 Edition of 23/25, 40x40cm each, installed 40x87cm, including gap. 2 Analog C-Prints, hand-printed by the artist, based on the 2 Polaroids. Signed on back with Certificate. Artist inventory number: 316. Mounted on Aluminum with matte UV-Protection. 29 PALMS, CA is a film / art piece that explores and chronicles the dreams and fantasies of a group of individuals who live in a trailer community in the Californian desert. The world depicted in the film is inspired by the photographs of German artist Stefanie Schneider in that it combines the notions of reality and fantasy and explores the resonance of both within a desert landscape and a transient culture. The characters portrayed in the film, (an actress, a singer, a DJ, a motel owner and his wife, a US army soldier, a mystic, a princess, a recluse, a movie ticket seller, two hitchhikers, a doctor, and so on), are to be played by both actors and non-actors. The story is constructed through the interpretation of real-life communications (i.e. phone calls, emails, conversations) that have taken place as the individuals depicted in the story try to make sense of events that have occurred in real life. In this sense, the story is, in part, a biography and social commentary, and the characters are the exaggerated alter egos of the individuals who play them. The structure of the plot is fairly simple. An actress working as a telemarketer is inspired by a singer who is new to town and is featured on the local radio station. The radio station runs a program for lonely hearts and a charismatic DJ uses the show to reveal the hopes and dreams of the town's “hottest women”. One night a panicked German female caller captivates the community with a painful story about a sexy “Smoke Jumper” (a mysterious and super real alpha male). Everybody in town is listening to the program and nobody is quite sure what to say. Life in general continues and we witness and explore the various interactions. The actress meets the singer and they become famous. The US Army soldier dies on his way to battle. The foreign princess discovers that the jewels she has come to sell are fake. The motel owner‘s wife has an affair with the pool boys and so on. All the while the community is united by their loyalty to the “Lonely Hearts” radio show and through the disturbing revelations of the German woman...

The Best Light To Read By 2019, 20x24cm, Edition of 1/10. Digital C-Print based on a Polaroid Collage. Hand-signed and numbered by the artist on the back w...

Young Duke (Chicks and Chicks and sometimes Cocks) - 2017 20x24cm, Edition of 10. Archival C-Print, based on a Polaroid. Artist inventory 22245. Signature label and Certificate. Not mounted. The 'Chicks and Chicks' series is part of my Desert Living Project, which encompasses all aspects of organic...

Ghost Story - 2021 50x40cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proof. Archival Print based on an original Polaroid on Hahnemühle photo rag paper. Signature label and certificate. Not mou...

Wind Power (California Badlands) - 2021 24x34cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory No. 4595. Not mounte...

Renée's Dream XV (Days of Heaven) - 2006 Part of the 29 Palms, CA project. Edition of 10, 50x50cm, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and certificate. Art...

Portal 2019, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proof, 20x25cm, Digital C-Print based on a mixed-media collage of an original Polaroid and silver foil on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper. Signat...

Playgirl (Heavenly Falls) 2016, 50x50cm, Edition of 10. Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist inventory number: 19598. Not mounted. ...

Planet of the Apes XI, 1999, Edition 1/10, 40x40cm, Signature label and Certificate. not mounted, Stefanie Schneider received her MFA in Communication Design at the Folkwang Schul...

Gabriela at Eleven - 2019 - 20x25cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Photograph printed in Canson Barita Fiber Rag 340gr, based on a reclaimed Fuji Instant Film Negative (no...

Margarita Smokes in Bathroom II (Till Death do us Part), 2007, 40x50cm, Edition 1/5, analog C-Print, printed by the artist, mounted on Aluminum with matte UV-Protection, based on a...

Ghost Story - 2021 Archival Print based on a mixed-media collage of an original Polaroid on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper. 25x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Signature lab...

Caring (Chicks and Chicks and sometimes Cocks) Edition 1/10, 20x20cm, 2019. Digital C-Print, based on a Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Not mounted. The 'Chicks and Ch...

Gabriela at Nine (2017) 20x25 cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Print on Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta, based on a Fuji Instant Film Signed on back with Certificate. Not mounte...

Ghost Story - 2021 - diptych Archival C-Print based on an original Polaroid on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper. Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Signature label and certificate. No...

'Untitled' (Chinese Classical) - 2002, 26 cm x 32cm. Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival Print, POLAROID 809 Emulsion Transfer. Signed, embossed stamp and artist certificate. Not mounted. Xulong Zhang Short Bio: He has been engaged in fashion portrait photography for 30 years and loves Polaroid photography. In 2000, he began to develop Polaroid photography and traveled to 34 countries for photography. Vita: 1999 Has won the title “Ten Elites” in the 3rd China Portrait Photography. 2000 Named the World Chinese Artist, known as “The Prince of Album” 2001 September, CCTV special report on “Zhang Xulong’s Body Art Photography” gained strong feedback from the community. 2002 January, published “Strategies for Commercial Portrait Photograph” by Zhejiang Photography Publishing. 2002 February, launched the concept of “Tang Yun” and greatly accepted by the market. His idea has spread across whole China’s photography industry. 2002 July, launched the concept of “Picasso’s scene backdrop” for kids photography and shocking the whole industry. 2002 August, published “Ms.Tang’s Body Art Portrait Album”, the first female body photography in China, by People’s Arts Publishing 2002 September, a personal exhibition entitled “seeing memory” in the ancient city of Shanxi Province, the 2nd session of the Pingyao International Photography Festival. In December of 2002, he was invited to give lectures in Malaysia and auction off the “Fruitful Achievements” exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, donating all money to the Kuala Lumpur Charitable aid for nursing homes and orphanages, won the "goodwill ambassador" title of honor in Kuala Lumpur. 2003 February-March, held the exhibition of “White Valentines” at Beijing International Trade and Exhibition Centre. December 2003, pioneered the new concept of "Royal Wedding", and completed the album of “Invasion 2004” wedding photography books published by Jilin art press. In December 2003 was awarded the 2003 annual contribution of the Chinese human body photography. 2003 Published “China Portrait Culture”. 2004 January, published Body Art & Portrait album “Chun Hua Qiu Shi”. 2004 March, held the exhibition of “Body Art & Portrait photography” in Chengdu. 2004 May, featured on a special report of “Match En China” in Paris. 2004 September, Pingyao international photography festival held entitled "the ambiguity of ancient legacy" xu-long Zhang body art exhibition 2005 August. 2005 August, accept the German star weekly "Der Stern" special report of “China nude” photography...

'Untitled' 2011, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs, Digital C-Print, based on a Polaroid 59, not mounted, 27cm x 21.5cm, not mounted, Signed, embossed stamp and artist certificate. ...

Exercise (Suburbia) - 2004, 38x36cm, Edition of 10, digital C-Print based on an expired Polaroid. Artist Inventory #20953. Signature label with Certificate, unmounted. The project...

Self-Distancing - 2020 Edition 1/10 plus 2 Artist Proof, 20x25cm Digital Print based on an original Polaroid on Hahnemühle photo rag paper. Signature label and certificate. Not moun...

Shadow Path (Shot 2019 on 600 film) Edition of 10 - Digital C-Print based on a on a Polaroid, not mounted. Signed on back and certificate. Clare Marie Bailey Works and Lives: UK C...