Polaroid Landscape Photography

Coney Island (Stay) - 2006 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory # 2266 Not mounted. Stefanie Sch...

Untitled (Paradise) - 1999, 20x20cm. Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on a Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inventory No. 20452. 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 The fact that Schneider uses out-of-date Polaroid film stock to take her pictures only intensifies the sense of their apparitional contents when they are realised.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, that 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 have 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, the isolated train track and the trailer. If these form a loosely defined structure into which human characters and events are cast, then Schneider always remains the fulcrum and mechanism of their exposure. Sometimes using actresses, friends, her sister, colleagues or lovers, Schneider stands by to watch the chance events as they unfold. And, this is even the case when she is a participant in front of camera of her photo-novels. It is the ability to wait and throw things open to chance and to unpredictable circumstances, that marks the development of her work over the last eight years. It is the means by which random occurrences take on such a telling sense of pregnancy in her work. However, in terms of analogy the closest proximity to Schneider’s photographic work is that of film. For many of her titles derive directly from film, in photographic series like OK Corral (1999), Vegas (1999), Westworld (1999), Memorial Day (2001), Primary Colours (2001), Suburbia (2004), The Last Picture Show (2005), and in other examples. Her works also include particular images that are titled Zabriskie Point, a photograph of her sister in an orange wig. Indeed the tentative title for the present publication Stranger Than Paradise is taken from Jim Jarmusch’s film of the same title in 1984. Yet it would be dangerous to take this comparison too far, since her series 29 Palms (1999) presages the later title of a film that appeared only in 2002. What I am trying to say here is that film forms the nexus of American culture, and it is not so much that Schneider’s photographs make specific references to these films (though in some instances they do), but that in referencing them she accesses the same American culture that is being emptied out and scrutinised by her photo-novels. In short her pictorial narratives might be said to strip films of the stereotypical Hollywood tropes that many of them possess. Indeed, the films that have most inspired her are those that similarly deconstruct the same sentimental and increasingly tawdry ‘American Dream’ peddled by Hollywood. These include films like David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990) The Lost Highway (1997), John Dahl’s The Last Seduction (1994) or films like Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise with all its girl-power Bonny and Clyde-type clichés. But they serve no more than as a backdrop, a type of generic tableau from which Schneider might take human and abstracted elements, for as commercial films they are not the product of mere chance and random occurrence. Notwithstanding this observation, it is also clear that the gender deconstructions that the characters in these films so often portray, namely the active role of women possessed of a free and autonomous sexuality (even victim turned vamp), frequently find resonances within the behavioural events taking place in Schneider’s photographs and DVD sequences; the same sense of sexual autonomy that Stefanie Schneider possesses and is personally committed to. In the series 29 Palms (first begun in 1999) the two women characters Radha and Max act out a scenario that is both infantile and adolescent. Wearing brightly coloured fake wigs of yellow and orange, a parody of the blonde and the redhead, they are seemingly trailer park white trash possessing a sentimental and kitsch taste in clothes totally inappropriate to the locality. The fact that Schneider makes no judgment about this is an interesting adjunct. Indeed, the photographic projection of the images is such that the girls incline themselves to believe that they are both beautiful and desirous. However, unlike the predatory role of women in say Richard Prince’s photographs, which are simply a projection of a male fantasy onto women, Radha and Max are self-contained in their vacuous if empty trailer and motel world of the swimming pool, nail polish, and childish water pistols. Within the photographic sequence Schneider includes herself, and acts as a punctum of disruption. Why is she standing in front of an Officers’ Wives Club...

Four Corners II (The Last Picture Show) - 2005 - triptych Edition 1/5, 58x57cm each, 58x181cm installed including gaps. 3 Analog C-Prints, hand-printed by the artist on Archive Fuji...

The Farmer's Wife's Dream (American Depression), diptych - 2004 featuring Radha Mitchell 58x57cm each, 58x122cm installed including an 8cm gap in between both pieces. Edition of 1...

Flyby (29 Palms, CA) - 2008 40x40cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inventory #4643. Not ...

Plane pink - 2008 40x40cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inventory #4649. Not mounted. ...

Poetic Passages (Stranger than Paradise) - 2008 40x40cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist In...

Downwind Leg (Stranger than Paradise) - 2008 40x40cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inven...

Guadalupe (The Last Picture Show) - 2005 38x37cm, Edition 2/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Archive Fuji Crystal Paper, based on the Polaroid. Artist inventory...

Oleander (Life on Mars) - 2024 40x48m, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory No. 22312....

Oleander (Life on Mars) - 2024 40x48m, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory No. 22135....

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...

Fabien (The Last Picture Show) triptych - 2005, 30x30cm each, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. 3 Archival C-Prints, based on the three original Polaroids. Certificate and sign...

The Ocean (The Princess and her Lover) - 2009 Edition 1/5, 60x80cm Analog C-Print based, printed by the artist and based on the Polaroid, Mounted on Aluminum with matte UV-Protec...

Frozen I (Stranger than Paradise) - 2001 50x49cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory...

Heather and Zeuss the Goat - 2016 20x24cm, Edition 9/10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #13137...

On the Road (The Last Picture Show) - 1999 44x75cm including the white frame, image areas: 30x29cm each. Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the 2 ori...

A Vision you can't capture (29 Palms, CA) - 2007 38 x 50 cm, Edition of 30. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inventory No. 41...

Rosegarden #4 (Suburbia) - 2016 20x24cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #20958 N...

Untitled (Olancha) - 2016 20x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #822 Not mount...

I wie Ikarus (Zuma Beach) - Edition 1/10, 43x49cm each, installed with gaps (depending on installation) 80x240cm, 3 analog C-Prints, hand-printed by the artist, based on 3 origin...

Construction Site Drive By (Vegas) - 2000 Edition 4/10, 44x59cm. Analog C-Print, hand-printed and enlarged by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. ...

Untitled (Oilfields) - 2004 60x60cm, Edition of 10, Analog C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inventory No. 1223. Not mounted. Stefanie Schn...

Watertower (Vegas) - 2000 Edition 5/10, 44x59cm. Analog C-Print, hand-printed and enlarged by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventor...

Marilyn aka Jane Bond - (part 1) (Heavenly Falls) - 2016 50x49cm, Edition of 10, digital C-Print based on the Polaroid Certificate and signature label. Artist inventory number: 19...

Thunderbird Motel (The Last Picture Show) - 2005 58x56cm, Edition 4/5, analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, matte surface. Based on an original...

Wildflower (Wastelands), 2003 Edition 2/5, 58 x 57cm, Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, matte finish, based on the original Polaroid. Signat...

Emser - Mindscreen 6 (Stranger than Paradise) - 1999 58x57cm, Edition 5/10. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on the Polaroid. Sign...

Summer Interlude I (Deconstructivism) - 2020 - about the narrative potential of images. 40x40cm, Edition of 10, digital C-Print, based on a Polaroid, Artist Inventory 5901. Signa...

The Argument (The Princess and her Lover), 2007 Edition of 10, 20x24cm. Archival C-Print based on a Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inventory #7011. Not moun...

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...

Indian Summer III (The Last Picture Show) - 2005 20x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print print, based on the Polaroid, Certificate and Signature label Arti...

Under Water (The Girl behind the White Picket Fence)- 2016 20x20cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label....

Stefanie Schneider's Minis Long Way Home (Stranger than Paradise), 1999 Signed and signature brand on verso. Lambda digital Color Photographs based on the Polaroid. Sandwiched in be...

Lost in Blue (Till Death Do Us Part) - 2005 Including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 192 pages, hardcover, published by Snap Collective, 2024. ...

Renée's Dream - The Boys (Days of Heaven) - 2016 20x24cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist I...

Airstream trailer outside of 29 Palms (Sidewinder) - 2005 50x48cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. A...

'Wonder Valley View' (The Girl behind the White Picket Fence) - 2008 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist In...

"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...

Tree in the Plane (The Last Picture Show) - 2006, 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label....

Three Girls X (The Last Picture Show) - 2006, 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Ar...

Three Girls VII (The Last Picture Show) - 2006, 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. ...

Three Girls VI (The Last Picture Show) - 2006, 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. A...

'Renée's Dream' no. 6 (Days of Heaven) - 2005 18 x 24 cm, Lumas Edition 99/100. Archival C-Print, based on an expired Polaroid Artist inventory 8085. Signature Label and certificat...

On the Road (Last Picture Show) - 2005, 38x37cm, Edition 2/5. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist on Archive Fuji Crystal Paper, based on original the Polaroid. Certifica...

Stefanie Schneider's Minis Slow (Oxana's 30th Birthday), 2008 Signed and signature brand on verso. Lambda digital Color Photographs based on a Polaroid. Sandwiched in between Plexig...

Palm Springs Palm Trees II (Californication) - 2016 122x120cm, sold out Lumas Edition of 150, Artist Proof 2/5. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and ...

Man walking in Distance (Zuma Beach) - 1999 43x59cm, Edition of 2/10. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Signed on back and Certificate. Artist Inve...

Like the Wind II (Till Death Do Us Part) - 2008 including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 196 pages, hardcover, published by snap Collective, 2024...

Leaving Town (Sidewinder) - 2005 including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 196 pages, hardcover, published by Snap Collective, 2024. 20x20cm, ...

29 Palms Oasis (29 Palms, CA) - 2013 Including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 192 pages, hardcover, published by Snap Collective, 2024. 20x24c...

Young Duke (Chicks and Chicks and sometimes Cocks) - 2016 20x24cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. ...

Salton Sea Palm Tree (California Badlands) - 2008 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #19400 Not ...

Power Plant Drive By (Vegas) - 2000 Edition 4/10, 44x59cm. Analog C-Print, hand-printed and enlarged by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artis...

Wild Things (Till Death do us Part) - 2008 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory #9309 Not mounted....

Landed (Long Way Home) - 1999, 50x50cm, Edition of 25, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on a Polaroid. Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inventory #834. Not mounted. Berlin based artist Stefanie Schneider enlarges expired Polaroid stock into burned-out C-prints. The lossy images almost completely dissolve into lurid color abstractions. The shiny pink of a sex kitten's glittery body suit becomes an electrified, free-floating color field. The vivid, flame-orange hair of a 70's sexploitation film star vibrates against the dusty gray of the sky above an LA desert. Skin tones and facial details in the figures are completely lost. They are refugees from Faster Pussycat...

Wits End (Wastelands) - 2003 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Artist inventory Number 20496. Signature label and Ce...

Henry Watching Athena Dance (Stay) - featuring Ryan Gosling - 2006 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inve...