Paper Photography

A Wish (Circle of Magic) from the 29 Palms, CA project - 2009 40x48cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Signature label and ...

X-Rayed (Back in the 80ies) - 1998 48x46cm, Edition of 10. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inventory N...

Whisky and Water VI (Sidewinder), diptych - 2005 24x20cm each, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the 2 original Polaroids. Signature label and certif...

Springtime (Suburbia) - 2004 50x60cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid, Signed on verso with Certificate, Artist inventory number: 18251. Not mounted. Thi...

Change Character (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007 40x48cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist In...

Driving - Henry's Memory Sequence (Stay) - 2006 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory # 2498 Not mo...

'Daisy on Bed' (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 38x47cm, Edition of 30 Archival C-Print print, based on the Polaroid, Certificate and signature label, ar...

How can you say that (Till Death do us Part) - 2008 20x24cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature labe...

Little Darlings (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 38x37cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 artist proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inv...

Untitled (Oilfields) - 2004 50x50cm, Edition of 10, Digital C-Print, based on the Polaroid Certificate and Signature label, artist Inventory # 1222. Not mounted. OILFIELDS, 2004 ...

Fairytales (dyptych) - 2006 Edition of 30, 38x36cm each, 38x85cm installed, including gaps. 2 Archival Prints based on 2 Polaroids. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inv...

Circle of Magic - Shazam (29 Palms, CA) - 2009 50x60cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Digital C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Artist Inventory No. 2823. Signature lab...

High Desert (29 Palms, CA) - 1999 20x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid, Signature label and Certificate. Artist inventory Numbe...

'Angie' (Heavenly Falls) - 2016 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid from the making of the documentary "instant dreams". Certificate and signature labe...

Untitled (Fairytales) - 2006, 48x59cm, Edition 2/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, matte finish, based on the original Polaroid. Certi...

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...

A Vision you can't Capture #04 (29 Palms, CA) - 2007 A piece from the 29 Palms, CA project 40x50cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. A...

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007 40x48cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist...

Palm Springs Palm Trees (Californication) - 2023 40x40cm. Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist I...

Side Effects (Stage of Consciousness) - 2007 20x24cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist Invent...

Untitled (The Last Picture Show), 2005 38x36cm, Edition 2/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on the original SX-70 Polaroid. Inventory No. 781.02. Signature label and Certificate. Not mounted. LIFE’S A DREAM (The Personal World of Stefanie Schneider) by Mark Gisbourne Projection is a form of apparition that is characteristic of our human nature, for what we imagine almost invariably transcends the reality of what we live. And, an apparition, as the word suggests, is quite literally ‘an appearing’, for what we appear to imagine is largely shaped by the imagination of its appearance. If this sounds tautological then so be it. But the work of Stefanie Schneider is almost invariably about chance and apparition. And, it is through the means of photography, the most apparitional of image-based media, that her pictorial narratives or photo-novels are generated. Indeed, traditional photography (as distinct from new digital technology) is literally an ‘awaiting’ for an appearance to take place, in line with the imagined image as executed in the camera and later developed in the dark room. The fact that Schneider uses out-of-date Polaroid film stock to take her pictures only intensifies the sense of their apparitional contents when they are realised. The stability comes only at such time when the images are re-shot and developed in the studio, and thereby fixed or arrested temporarily in space and time. The unpredictable and at times unstable film she adopts for her works also creates a sense of chance within the outcome that can be imagined or potentially envisaged by the artist Schneider. But this chance manifestation is a loosely controlled, or, better called existential sense of chance, which becomes pre-disposed by the immediate circumstances of her life and the project she is undertaking at the time. Hence the choices she makes are largely open-ended choices, driven by a personal nature and disposition allowing for a second appearing of things whose eventual outcome remains undefined. And, it is the alliance of the chance-directed material apparition of Polaroid film, in turn explicitly allied to the experiences of her personal life circumstances, that provokes the potential to create Stefanie Schneider’s open-ended narratives. Therefore they are stories based on a degenerate set of conditions that are both material and human, with an inherent pessimism and a feeling for the sense of sublime ridicule being seemingly exposed. This in turn echoes and doubles the meaning of the verb ‘to expose’. To expose being embedded in the technical photographic process, just as much as it is in the narrative contents of Schneider’s photo-novel exposés. The former being the unstable point of departure, and the latter being the uncertain ends or meanings that are generated through the photographs doubled exposure. The large number of speculative theories of apparition, literally read as that which appears, and/or creative visions in filmmaking and photography are self-evident, and need not detain us here. But from the earliest inception of photography artists have been concerned with manipulated and/or chance effects, be they directed towards deceiving the viewer, or the alchemical investigations pursued by someone like Sigmar Polke. None of these are the real concern of the artist-photographer Stefanie Schneider, however, but rather she is more interested with what the chance-directed appearances in her photographs portend. For Schneider’s works are concerned with the opaque and porous contents of human relations and events, the material means are largely the mechanism to achieving and exposing the ‘ridiculous sublime’ that has come increasingly to dominate the contemporary affect(s) of our world. The uncertain conditions of today’s struggles as people attempt to relate to each other - and to themselves - are made manifest throughout her work. And, that she does this against the backdrop of the so-called ‘American Dream’, of a purportedly advanced culture that is Modern America, makes them all the more incisive and critical as acts of photographic exposure. From her earliest works of the late nineties one might be inclined to see her photographs as if they were a concerted attempt at an investigative or analytic serialisation, or, better still, a psychoanalytic dissection of the different and particular genres of American subculture. But this is to miss the point for the series though they have dates and subsequent publications remain in a certain sense unfinished. Schneider’s work has little or nothing to do with reportage as such, but with recording human culture in a state of fragmentation and slippage. And, if a photographer like Diane Arbus dealt specifically with the anomalous and peculiar that made up American suburban life, the work of Schneider touches upon the alienation of the commonplace. That is to say how the banal stereotypes of Western Americana have been emptied out, and claims as to any inherent meaning they formerly possessed has become strangely displaced. Her photographs constantly fathom the familiar, often closely connected to traditional American film genre, and make it completely unfamiliar. Of course Freud would have called this simply the unheimlich or uncanny. But here again Schneider almost never plays the role of the psychologist, or, for that matter, seeks to impart any specific meanings to the photographic contents of her images. The works possess an edited behavioural narrative (she has made choices), but there is never a sense of there being a clearly defined story. Indeed, the uncertainty of my reading here presented, acts as a caveat to the very condition that Schneider’s photographs provoke. Invariably the settings of her pictorial narratives are the South West of the United States, most often the desert and its periphery in Southern California. The desert is a not easily identifiable space, with the suburban boundaries where habitation meets the desert even more so. There are certain sub-themes common to Schneider’s work, not least that of journeying, on the road, a feeling of wandering and itinerancy, or simply aimlessness. Alongside this subsidiary structural characters continually appear, the gas station, the automobile, the motel, the highway, the revolver, logos and signage, the wasteland...

M (Immaculate Springs) - 1998 - 20x20cm, Edition of 5, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Signature Label and Certificate. Artist inventory...

Ladies Room (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 40x30cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory...

Snow Silence (Stranger than Paradise) - 2003 57x56cm, Edition 4/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on the Polaroid. Artist invento...

Plane (Vegas) - 2000 Edition 4/10, 44x59cm. Analog C-Print, hand-printed and enlarged by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #54...

Radio Show (The Girl Behind the White Picket Fence) - diptych 40x95cm including the white frame, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the 2 original Pola...

Disco Queen (Oxana's 30th Birthday) - 2007 50x49cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist I...

"4 Corners I" (Last Picture Show) - 2005 58x57cm, Edition of 5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed and enlarged by the artist on Archive Fuji Chrystal Paper, based on a Polaroid, Not m...

Summer Interlude II (Deconstructivism) - 2020 - about the narrative potential of images. 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid, Art...

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...

Magic Mountain III (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, Artist...

Gasoline III (Stranger than Paradise) - 1999 Edition 10, 120x120cm, analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid, Not mounted, Certificate and Signature label, artist Inventory No. 271.01 Exhibition photos from the solo show 'Rough Cuts' at the Susanne Vielmetter gallery, LA Projects. The works of Stefanie Schneider evoke Ed Ruscha's obsession with the American experience, the richness of Georgia O'Keefe's deserts and the loneliness of Edward Hopper's haunting paintings. So how exactly did this German photographer become one of the most important artists of the American narrative of the 20th and 21st century? In this captivating artwork, we are drawn into the enigmatic world captured by Stefanie Schneider, where a solitary man, lost in his own thoughts, embarks on a journey while engulfed in a cloud of smoke...

Tell me what I am to do (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 20x20cm, Edition 2/10. Digital C-Print print, based on a Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory No. 932...

Hidden Valley (Till Death Do Us Part) - 2005 78x77cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid Signature label and Certificate. artist Inventor...

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...

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. ...

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...

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,...

The Mystic - Circle of Magic (29 Palms, CA), - 2009 Edition 3/5 , 37x47cm. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on a Polaroid, Artist i...

Mind Screen (Last Picture Show), 2005, Edition 2/10, digital C-Print based on a Polaroid, Certificate and Signature label included artist Inventory Nr. 1043.11 not mounted LIFE’...

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...

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...

Whisky Dance III (Sidewinder), 2005 20x24cm, Edition 1/10, digital C-Print, based on a Polaroid, Certificate and Signature label, artist Inventory # 3207, not mounted Stefanie S...

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, ...

Untitled 08 (Saigon) - 2003 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist Inventory #19813. Not ...

Running rings around the moon (Heavenly Falls) - 2016 50x60cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print based on a Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist inventory number: 19563...

Girls (Till Death do us Part) - 2016 40x40cm, Edition of 10. Archival C- Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist inventory number: 9435. Not mounted...

Brooklyn Bridge (Strange Love) - 2005 20x25cm, Edition of 10. Digital C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and certificate. Artist Inventory No. 18350. Not mounted. ...

Was I Dreaming? (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 50x50cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Ar...

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...

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...

Brooklyn Bridge Sunset (Stay) - 2006 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory No. 2572. Not mounted. ...

Wild Things (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 Invent...

Little Darlings (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 38x37cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 artist proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inv...

Become Aware (The Girl behind the White Picket Fence) - 2013 20x24cm, Edition 8/10. Archival C-Print, based on a Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory # 15...

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 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...

Together (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist I...

Taking Turns (Till Death Do Us Part) - 2006 40x48cm,. Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist ...