Art by Medium: Polaroid

Living in a Dream (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label, artist Inventory No. 9781. Not mounted. on offer is a piece from the movie "Till Death do us Part" Stefanie Schneider’s Till Death Do Us Part or “There is Only the Desert for You.” BY DREW HAMMOND Stefanie Schneider’s Til Death to Us Part is a love narrative that comprises three elements: 1. A montage of still images shot and elaborated by means of her signature technique of using Polaroid formats with outdated and degraded film stock in natural light, with the resulting im ages rephotographed (by other means) enlarged and printed in such a way as to generate further distortions of the image. 2. Dated Super 8 film footage without a sound track and developed by the artist. 3. Recorded off-screen narration of texts written by the actors or photographic subjects, and selected by the artist. At the outset, this method presupposes a tension between still and moving image; between the conventions about the juxtaposition of such images in a moving image presentation; and, and a further tension between the work’s juxtaposition of sound and image, and the conventional relationship between sound and image that occurs in the majority of films. But Till Death Do Us Part also conduces to an implied synthesis of still and moving image by the manner in which the artist edits or cuts the work. First, she imposes a rigorous criterion of selection, whether to render a section as a still or moving image. The predominance of still images is neither an arbitrary residue of her background as a still photographer—in fact she has years of background in film projects; nor is it a capricious reaction against moving picture convention that demands more moving images than stills. Instead, the number of still images has a direct thematic relation to the fabric of the love story in the following sense. Stills, by definition, have a very different relationship to time than do moving images. The unedited moving shot occurs in real time, and the edited moving shot, despite its artificial rendering of time, all too 2009often affords the viewer an even greater illusion of experiencing reality as it unfolds. It is self-evident that moving images overtly mimic the temporal dynamic of reality. Frozen in time—at least overtly—still photographic images pose a radical tension with real time. This tension is all the more heightened by their “real” content, by the recording aspect of their constitution. But precisely because they seem to suspend time, they more naturally evoke a sense of the past and of its inherent nostalgia. In this way, they are often more readily evocative of other states of experience of the real, if we properly include in the real our own experience of the past through memory, and its inherent emotions. This attribute of stills is the real criterion of their selection in Til Death Do Us Part where consistently, the artist associates them with desire, dream, memory, passion, and the ensemble of mental states that accompany a love relationship in its nascent, mature, and declining aspects. A SYNTHESIS OF MOVING AND STILL IMAGES BOTH FORMAL AND CONCEPTUAL It is noteworthy that, after a transition from a still image to a moving image, as soon as the viewer expects the movement to continue, there is a “logical” cut that we expect to result in another moving image, not only because of its mise en scène, but also because of its implicit respect of traditional rules of film editing, its planarity, its sight line, its treatment of 3D space—all these lead us to expect that the successive shot, as it is revealed, is bound to be another moving image. But contrary to our expectation, and in delayed reaction, we are startled to find that it is another still image. One effect of this technique is to reinforce the tension between still and moving image by means of surprise. But in another sense, the technique reminds us that, in film, the moving image is also a succession of stills that only generate an illusion of movement. Although it is a fact that here the artist employs Super 8 footage, in principle, even were the moving images shot with video, the fact would remain since video images are all reducible to a series of discrete still images no matter how “seamless” the transitions between them. Yet a third effect of the technique has to do with its temporal implication. Often art aspires to conflate or otherwise distort time. Here, instead, the juxtaposition poses a tension between two times: the “real time” of the moving image that is by definition associated with reality in its temporal aspect; and the “frozen time” of the still image associated with an altered sense of time in memory and fantasy of the object of desire—not to mention the unreal time of the sense of the monopolization of the gaze conventionally attributed to the photographic medium, but which here is associated as much with the yearning narrator as it is with the viewer. In this way, the work establishes and juxtaposes two times for two levels of consciousness, both for the narrator of the story and, implicitly, for the viewer: A) the immediate experience of reality, and B) the background of reflective effects of reality, such as dream, memory, fantasy, and their inherent compounding of past and present emotions. In addition, the piece advances in the direction of a Gesammtkunstwerk, but in a way that reconsiders this synaesthesia as a unified complex of genres—not only because it uses new media that did not exist when the idea was first enunciated in Wagner’s time, but also because it comprises elements that are not entirely of one artist’s making, but which are subsumed by the work overall. The totality remains the vision of one artist. In this sense, Till Death Do Us Part reveals a further tension between the central intelligence of the artist and the products of other individual participants. This tension is compounded to the degree that the characters’ attributes and narrated statements are part fiction and part reality, part themselves, and part their characters. But Stefanie Schneider is the one who assembles, organizes, and selects them all. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THIS IDEA (above) AND PHOTOGRAPHY This selective aspect of the work is an expansion of idea of the act of photography in which the artistic photographer selects that which is already there, and then, by distortion, definition or delimitation, compositional and lighting emphasis, and by a host of other techniques, subsumes that which is already there to transform it into an image of the artist’s contrivance, one that is no less of the artist’s making than a work in any other medium, but which is distinct from many traditional media (such as painting) in that it retains an evocation of the tension between what is already there and what is of the artist’s making. Should it fail to achieve this, it remains, to that degree, mere illustration to which aesthetic technique has been applied with greater or lesser skill. The way Til Death Do Us Part expands this basic principle of the photographic act, is to apply it to further existing elements, and, similarly, to transform them. These additional existing elements include written or improvised pieces narrated by their authors in a way that shifts between their own identities and the identities of fictional characters. Such characters derive partially from their own identities by making use of real or imagined memories, dreams, fears of the future, genuine impressions, and emotional responses to unexpected or even banal events. There is also music, with voice and instrumental accompaniment. The music slips between integration with the narrative voices and disjunction, between consistency and tension. At times it would direct the mood, and at other times it would disrupt. Despite that much of this material is made by others, it becomes, like the reality that is the raw material of an art photo, subsumed and transformed by the overall aesthetic act of the manner of its selection, distortion, organization, duration, and emotional effect. * * * David Lean was fond of saying that a love story is most effective in a squalid visual environment. In Til Death Do Us Part, the squalor of the American desert...

Aliens - triptych - 1998 Edition of 5, plus 2 Artist Proofs. 48x59cm each, 48x190 installed including the gaps. analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive P...

'Untitled' Oilfields) - 2004, 60x60cm, Edition 4/10. Analog C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #1212.04. Not mounted. ...

Snow Flakes (Californication) - 2021 20x24cm. Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory Numb...

Untitled (Last Picture Show) - 2001 40x40cm, Edition of 10, Lambda Print based on the Polaroid Certificate and signature label artist inventory number: 1268. Not mounted. Insta...

Welcome to Alcatraz (San Francisco) - 2023 40x40cm, Edition of 7, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signed on back with Certificate. Not mounted. The City San Francisco has always been a special place to me. I am overcome with romantic notions thinking about it. Some real, some imagined. Walking down to Market street feeling my heart skip a beat To see someone who looks like you, I guess that I'm not through Dreaming of the one I love, you know what I'm dreaming of San Francisco days, San Francisco nights San Francisco Days - Chris Isaak...

Fanari II (2018) Edition of 10 - 40 x 40 cm Digital C-Print based on a on a Polaroid, not mounted. Signed on back and certificate. Artist: This was shot on a lighthouse of the Dor...

A Wish (Circle of Magic) from the 29 Palms, CA project - 2009 57x70cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. digital C-Print based on a Polaroid Certificate and signature label. Art...

'Color Study', 2017 Edition 1/10 plus 2 Artist Proof, 20x24cm, Digital C-Print based on a mixed-media collage of an original Polaroid and glitter on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper, not ...

By the Pool (2015), Edition of 10. 50 x 50 cm. Archival Print on Canson Barita Fiber Rag 310gr, based on an analog Photograph (not mounted). Signed on back with Certificate. Crist...

Untitled (29 Palms, CA), 1999, 20x24cm, Edition 1/10, Photograph printed on Velvet Watercolor, based on a Polaroid, Certificate and Signature label, not mounted Artist Inventory Num...

Self-Portrait - 2020, Part of the series shot during the second UK lockdown. Edition of 10. 50x50cm. Digital C-Print based on a Polaroid. Not mounted. Leanne Surfleet is an analo...

All that glitters ain't gold, 2017, Edition 1/7 plus 2 Artist Proof Based on a Polaroid, digital C-print, not mounted. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inventory PL201...

Pull I, 2017, Edition 1/7 plus 2 Artist Proofs Based on an original Polaroid, Digital C-print, not mounted. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inventory PL2017-486 Kirs...

Paris Walks - Contemporary Black & White Polaroid Original Photograph Framed Pia Clodi’s works encompass moments and mementos from her countless walks through cities as well as nat...

In the Range of Light III (Wastelands) - 2003 Edition 4/5, 6 pieces, each 57x56cm, installed 119x181cm, 6 Analog C-Prints, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper,...

'Bluebell Dream', 2017 Edition 2/7 plus 2 Artist Proof Based on a Polaroid, digital C-Print, not mounted. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inventory PL2017-306 Kirste...

Magic Mountain II (Memories of Green) - 2003 Edition of 10, 58x56cm. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on an expired Polaroid. Signa...

Cups (Suburbia) - 2004 20x24cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid, Signed on verso with Certificate, Artist inventory number: 1686. Not mounted. This proje...

In Bloom - 2022 50x50cm. Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival Print based on an original Polaroid on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper. Signature label and certificate. Not mo...

Lilies - 2022 50x50cm. Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival Print based on an original Polaroid on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper. Signature label and certificate. Not moun...

Self-Portrait - 2020, Part of the series shot during the second UK lockdown. Edition of 10. 50x50cm. Digital C-Print based on a Polaroid. Signed on back with Certificate. Not moun...

image size: 10 x 8 inches Standing Nude Male Flexing in Socks and Shoes Smoking a Cigarette Polaroid Transfer on 22 x 15 inch Rives BFK paper, unframed signed SM Beard in pencil on...

'Renée's Dream' no. 7 (Days of Heaven) - 2005 18 x 24 cm. Lumas Edition 99/100. Archival C-Print, based on an expired Polaroid. Artist inventory 8080. Signature Label and certif...

Turn - 2019 50x50cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print based on the original Polaroid. Signature label with certificate. Artist inventory PL2019-640. Kirsten ...

Untitled (Beachshoot) - 2005 50x50cm, Edition of 10, digital C-Print, based on a Polaroid Certificate and Signature label, artist Inventory # 898, not mounted “I never rememb...

Inside the Trailer (Sidewinder), 2005, Edition 1/5, 4 pieces, each 48x47cm, installed with gaps 48x207cm installed including 5cm gaps. Analog C-Prints, hand-printed by the artist, ...

Before Dusk (Shot 2018 on SX70 Film) Shot as part of The Visit series, the image was directly influenced by 1960s and 1970s science fiction cinema such as Close Encounters of the Thi...

Ellen VON UNWERTH (*1954, Germany) Kate Moss, Paris, 1995 Unique Polaroid Image 7.5 x 9.5 cm (3 x 3 3/4 in.) Sheet 8.6 x 10.7 cm (3 3/8 x 4 1/4 in.) Frame 29 x 24.5 x 4 cm (11 3/8 x ...

Homeward Bound, 2017, Edition 2/7 plus 2 Artist Proof Based on an original Instant Film Digital C-print, not mounted. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inventory PL2017...

Untitled 2019, 20x24cm, Edition of 1/10. Digital C-Print based a Polaroid Collage. Hand-signed and numbered by the artist on the back with Certificate. Not mounted. Josey Cary Pol...

'Light Stories', 2016 Edition 1/10 plus 2 Artist Proof, 20x24cm, Digital C-Print based on an original Polaroid on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper, not mounted. Signature label and certif...

Emergence 2019, Edition 1/10 plus 2 Artist Proof, 20x24cm. Digital Print based on a Polaroid photograph on Hahnemühle photo rag paper. Signature label and certificate. Not mounted....

'Light my Fire’, 2017, 20 x 20 cm, Edition 1/10, Digital C-Print based on a Polaroid, not mounted. Numbered and signed on the back by the artist. Artist...

The Blue Hour, 2016, Edition 1/10 plus 2 Artist Proof, 20x43cm, digital C-Print based on a diptych of 2 original Polaroids on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper, not mounted . Signature labe...

Behind the veil - 2020 50x50cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proofs, digital C-Print based on a Polaroid. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inventory PL2020-912. Not mo...

Paris Walks III - Contemporary Original Framed Landscape Polaroid Photograph Pia Clodi’s works encompass moments and mementos from her countless walks through cities as well as nat...

Oasis XV (Sidewinder) - 2005 38x37cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs, Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #301...

Catching Stars 2019, Edition 1/10 plus 2 Artist Proof, 20x20cm. Digital C-Print based on a mixed-media collage of an original Polaroid on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper. Not mounted. ...

'She Knows' 2016, Edition 1/7 plus 2 Artist Proofs Based on a Polaroid, digital C-Print, not mounted. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inventory PL2016-214 Kirsten Th...

Vice - 2024 - 50x50cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print based on the original Polaroid. Signature label with certificate. inventory PL2024-046. Not mounted....

Draught, 2017, Edition 2/7 plus 2 Artist Proof Based on an original Impossible film Digital C-print, not mounted. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inventory PL2017-307...

'Untitled' from the Dwell Series, 2018, Edition 1/10 plus 2 Artist Proof, 20x24cm. Digital Print based on a Mixed Media collage of a Spectra Polaroid and glitter, not mounted, prin...

'Negative Space' 2018, Edition 1/10 plus 2 Artist Proof, 20x38cm. Art Print based on an original Polaroid on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper, not mounted. Signature label and certifica...

My Girl (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 20x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #92...

Ponder - 2019 20x20cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inventory PL219-673. N...

Boccia (Beachshoot) - 2005 70x135cm installed, including gaps - 8 pieces, 30x30cm each, almost sold out Edition of 100 plus 3 Artist Proofs. Available 100/100, AP 1/3, AP 3/3. Arc...

Magic Mountain 12 (Memories of Green), Edition 1/5 , 58x56cm, 2003 analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on a Polaroid, Artist inventory Nu...

Oasis IX (Sidewinder) - 2005 38x37cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs, Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #300...

Ellen VON UNWERTH (*1954, Germany) Ecological, Kate Moss, Paris, 1995 Unique Polaroid 10.8 x 8.5 cm (4 1/4 x 3 3/8 in.) Biography: Born in Germany in 1954, Ellen von Unwerth is wide...

Dreamscape (Wastelands) - 2003 128x125cm, Edition 4/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on the original Polaroid. Artist inventory ...

Gestures (Stranger than Paradise) Edition 1/5. 12 pieces, 48x46 cm each, installed: 207x155 cm. 12 Analog C-Prints, hand-printed by the artist, mounted on Aluminum with matte UV...

Between the Lines - The Getaway (The Last Picture Show) - 1999 50x50cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Artist Inventory #694. Signature label and Certificate. Not mounted. Stefanie Schneider's photographs evoke scintillating moments suspended between daydreams and waking reality. Each scene, captured in the southwestern United States, radiates a surreal enchantment. The artist's role appears minimal yet pivotal, providing the decisive impulse that sets the imagery into motion. The figures in her photographs remain as elusive as the motivations behind their actions, and the narratives woven through her sequences are tantalizingly open to interpretation. Atmospheric disturbances in Schneider's work emerge as the result of a deliberate narrative arrangement, compelling viewers to navigate between visual mementos and the gaps in memory they conjure. Yet, her artistry is no less purposeful in its engagement with medium. Despite the inherent unpredictability of expired Polaroid film, Schneider wields it with calculated intent. The photo-chemical self-developing process, altered by age and decay, transforms the initial exposure into something alien yet mesmerizing. This dysfunction is a cornerstone of MIND SCREEN, a multi-part work that explores the fragility of reality, authenticity, and comprehension. Schneider juxtaposes this brittleness with a magical realism steeped in chimeras, crafting dreamlike sequences that resist definitive narratives. She entrusts viewers with the responsibility of piecing together presumed storylines, refusing to offer a manual for interpretation. Instead, her work draws us into a realm where the unreal reigns—shimmering scenes that evoke the mirage of a road movie, a moment of violence, or a tragic self-sacrifice. Film genres are invoked and subverted in a single breath: Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders is reimagined through a rose-tinted lens, Thelma...

The Decision - The Getaway (The Last Picture Show) - 1999 50x50cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Artist Inventory #762. Signature label and Certificate. Not mounted. Stefanie Schneider's photographs evoke scintillating moments suspended between daydreams and waking reality. Each scene, captured in the southwestern United States, radiates a surreal enchantment. The artist's role appears minimal yet pivotal, providing the decisive impulse that sets the imagery into motion. The figures in her photographs remain as elusive as the motivations behind their actions, and the narratives woven through her sequences are tantalizingly open to interpretation. Atmospheric disturbances in Schneider's work emerge as the result of a deliberate narrative arrangement, compelling viewers to navigate between visual mementos and the gaps in memory they conjure. Yet, her artistry is no less purposeful in its engagement with medium. Despite the inherent unpredictability of expired Polaroid film, Schneider wields it with calculated intent. The photo-chemical self-developing process, altered by age and decay, transforms the initial exposure into something alien yet mesmerizing. This dysfunction is a cornerstone of MIND SCREEN, a multi-part work that explores the fragility of reality, authenticity, and comprehension. Schneider juxtaposes this brittleness with a magical realism steeped in chimeras, crafting dreamlike sequences that resist definitive narratives. She entrusts viewers with the responsibility of piecing together presumed storylines, refusing to offer a manual for interpretation. Instead, her work draws us into a realm where the unreal reigns—shimmering scenes that evoke the mirage of a road movie, a moment of violence, or a tragic self-sacrifice. Film genres are invoked and subverted in a single breath: Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders is reimagined through a rose-tinted lens, Thelma...

The Hideout - The Getaway (The Last Picture Show) - 1999 20x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Artist Inventory #724. Signature label and Certificate. Not mounted. Stefanie Schneider's photographs evoke scintillating moments suspended between daydreams and waking reality. Each scene, captured in the southwestern United States, radiates a surreal enchantment. The artist's role appears minimal yet pivotal, providing the decisive impulse that sets the imagery into motion. The figures in her photographs remain as elusive as the motivations behind their actions, and the narratives woven through her sequences are tantalizingly open to interpretation. Atmospheric disturbances in Schneider's work emerge as the result of a deliberate narrative arrangement, compelling viewers to navigate between visual mementos and the gaps in memory they conjure. Yet, her artistry is no less purposeful in its engagement with medium. Despite the inherent unpredictability of expired Polaroid film, Schneider wields it with calculated intent. The photo-chemical self-developing process, altered by age and decay, transforms the initial exposure into something alien yet mesmerizing. This dysfunction is a cornerstone of MIND SCREEN, a multi-part work that explores the fragility of reality, authenticity, and comprehension. Schneider juxtaposes this brittleness with a magical realism steeped in chimeras, crafting dreamlike sequences that resist definitive narratives. She entrusts viewers with the responsibility of piecing together presumed storylines, refusing to offer a manual for interpretation. Instead, her work draws us into a realm where the unreal reigns—shimmering scenes that evoke the mirage of a road movie, a moment of violence, or a tragic self-sacrifice. Film genres are invoked and subverted in a single breath: Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders is reimagined through a rose-tinted lens, Thelma...

Gaby at ten (2014), 40x40cm, Edition 1/7. Printed in Canson Baryta Fiber Rag 310gr, based on a Fuji Instant Film (not mounted). Signed on back with Certificate. Once / Cristina F...

Heresy - 2020, 20x20cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proof. Archival Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and certificate. Artist inventory PL2020-906. Not mounted. K...

Palm Springs Palm Trees XI (Californication) - 2019 40x40cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory Number 22...

Column & Socle 2001 Signed, dated, and inscribed “AP” in pencil, recto Polaroid transfer on Rives BFK paper 22 x 15 inches, sheet 7.5 x 9.5 inches, image This work is offered by ...

Robert Fichter Title: Jonah Date: 1980 Original Polaroid Large Format Print (Photo-Internal dye diffusion transfer) Location: Cambridge Massachusetts United States Dimensions: Image: 27 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. (69.9 x 52.1 cm), Paper: 29 1/4 x 21 1/2 in. (74.3 x 54.6 cm) This depicts a large mouth fish with a toy soldier and Asian art (tattoo art?) in an abstract assemblage collage. From "Five Still Lifes" New York: Paradox Editions, Ltd., 1980. 5 original Polaroid color prints. Each hand signed, titled, dated and numbered 37/40 in ink in the margin. Each approximately 24 x 20in (image size). Each is on original as there are no negatives in this process. The photographers included: Robert Cumming, Robert Fichter, Betty Hahn, Victor Schrager...