Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Stefanie Schneider
29 Palms, CA - based on a Polaroid

1999

About the Item

29 Palms, CA - 2010 40x40cm, Edition of of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Digital C-Print, based on a Polaroid. Certificate and signature label. Artist Inventory # 1897. Not mounted. THE GREATER THE EMPTINESS THE GRANDER THE ART – Stefan Gronert Not “Twenty-six Gasoline Stations” but “29 Palms, CA”! Forty-two years after Ed Ruscha’s legendary book, there is no gasoline station at the beginning of the book that is here at hand. Instead it is the open hearted Radha – with orange hair, pink-colored overalls and a bashful, or rather cunning, gaze that is directed downward – with which this book begins! And with her and with Max – attention: a woman –, one whose appearance is in accordance with the same styling, it comes to an end as well – after Radha has in the meantime colored her fingernails pink, again endowed with the same open heartedness and the same look which now, however, reveals in combination with her altered facial expression an “old-maidish” turning away from the viewer. This may serve as an example for a vivid and understandable transformation which flows into a large-scale representation of a cheerless settlement beneath a shining, blue sky – there a figure, lost straightaway, becomes overwhelmed. Pictures which in 1998/99 play in the harsh California sunlight or in spaces that are not exactly cozy and comfortable. “Play” is the correct word in this regard, for precisely in view of the pictures of persons, there remains more than just doubt as to whether we are looking at staged scenes or have simply happened upon the high-strung “reality” of a (wannabe) film world. Yet not all the pictures have the same character of a glaring, plastic world. Upon flipping through the pages, we also encounter unpretentious, literally “colorless” scenes in undefined interiors, or unspectacular views resembling a still life and opening out onto a nowhere land. That which connects all participants in these picture-worlds is the observation that they appear to be exhausted, lost, empty or uncertain about their existence. One is almost reminded of the empty gazes and loneliness of the protagonists in the pictures of large cities painted by Manet or Degas in the era of Early Modernism. With one exception, all the photographs which are reproduced here, which originally measure 60 by 70 cm but which here, in their present size and configuration, make productive use of the possibilities presented by the medium of the book, manifest several elements of B-movies: smoking, naked, made-up and muscular persons who are not inclined to conform entirely to the vision of Hollywood dreams. Beauty and vexation, eroticism and loneliness enter into a mixture which reveals the rift between desire and truth. From a distance, one is reminded of the “Untitled Film Stills” of Cindy Sherman, which in this regard are not nearly as drastic. Yet whereas her photos from the seventies are characterized by a cool, objective mode of representation in historicizing blackand-white, the photographs of Stefanie Schneider evince a soft, sometimes seemingly pictorial visual language with a coloration ranging from the pale to the artificial-glaring. As in many other pictures of Stefanie Schneider which often present themselves to us as sequences, these photos refer back as well to the perceptual stereotypes of film. Making use of instant photography, proceeding from which significantly enlarged C-prints come into being, her pictures summon up the impression of a narration without ultimately becoming part of a plot that is readable in a linear fashion. The illusion of the narrative element, however, simply enhances the experience of a renunciation of just this aspect. For the picture titles as well – and also the title of this publication – provide no real help with the imaginary construction of a story. Nevertheless, names return which include the first name of the artist herself: hence is everything not in fact a game but rather a series of authentic and instantaneous images, or is it after all nothing other than a staging, a game – how real is life? The paucity of plot elements, which contradicts all expectation of a cinematic style, as well as the emptiness and loneliness of the persons, enters into a peculiar, sometimes seemingly surreal association with the magic of the sun-drenched expanses of the dreamlike landscape. Just as the fantasy and imagination of the viewer are stimulated, so to the same great extent does the redemption of these visual figures of love founder on a void whose glaze is created, not least of all, by the peculiar blurriness of the photographic representation. The seemingly amateur character of these pictures, which have in no way been treated with any excessive scrupulousness, leaves us with a stimulating incertitude as to their interpretation, one in which the spheres of reality, fiction or dream are scarcely capable any longer of being differentiated. Thus the gaps and the scenic openness of what is presented ultimately set in motion a self-appraisal. So what remains after “29 Palms, CA”? Perhaps that hope which deviates from the saying of Ruscha that is quoted in the title: The stronger the photography the better the reality will be!

More From This Seller

View All
Mermaid's Daughter (Till Death do us Part)
By Stefanie Schneider
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Mermaid's Daughter (Till Death do us Part) - 2005, 70x85cm, Edition of 10. Archival C-Print, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory ...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Color Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

D. and Felix - Contemporary, 21st Century, Polaroid, Figurative Photography
By Stefanie Schneider
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
D. and Felix (Stranger than Paradise) - 1997 Edition of 2/30. Image size 16 x 21.6 inch, External dimensions: 17.7 x 23.3 inch. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Mounted...
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print, Polaroid, Wood, Archival Paper

Alaska (Stranger than Paradise) analog - 6 pieces
By Stefanie Schneider
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Alaska (Stranger than Paradise) - 2002 Edition of 3/5, 105x150cm installed, 48x46 cm each. 6 Analog C-Prints, hand printed by the artist and based original 6 Polaroids. Signature...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Color Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Untitled (Oilfields) - Contemporary, Polaroid, Photograph, Analog, Enlargement
By Stefanie Schneider
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Untitled (Oilfields) - 2004 60x60cm, Edition 2/10, analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on a Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label, artist Inventory No. 1220.0...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Daisy and Austen in front of Trailer - based on a Polaroid Original - Proof
By Stefanie Schneider
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Daisy and Austen in front of Trailer (Till Death do us Part) - 2005 Proof b4 Printing / 128x125cm signed, analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on a Polaroid, signed on...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Color Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Self-Portrait II - Mounted, Contemporary, Polaroid, Color, Portrait
By Leanne Surfleet
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Self-Portrait II, 2013, Edition 1/10. 25x25cm. Digital C-Print based on an Impossible Project SX-70. Mounted. The additional photos show this piece mounted at the Bombay Beach Bienn...
Category

2010s Contemporary Color Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

You May Also Like

Tyler Shields - The Girl with The Red Glove, Photography 2021, Printed After
By Tyler Shields
Located in Greenwich, CT
Series: Historical Fiction Chromogenic Print on Kodak Endura Luster Paper All available sizes and editions: 15" x 20" 22.5" x 30" 30" x 40" 45" x 60" 56" x 72" 63" x 84" Editions of ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Color Photography

Materials

Luster, Paper, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Black a...

Tyler Shields - Butterfly, Photography 2017, Printed After
By Tyler Shields
Located in Greenwich, CT
Series: Provocateur Chromogenic Print on Kodak Endura Luster Paper All available sizes and editions: 15" x 20" 22.5" x 30" 45" x 60" 56" x 72" 63" x 84" Editions of 3 + 2 Artist Proo...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography

Materials

Paper, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print

Tyler Shields - Pill, Photography 2020, Printed After
By Tyler Shields
Located in Greenwich, CT
Series: Mouths Chromogenic Print on Kodak Endura Luster Paper All available sizes and editions: 18" x 18" 30" x 30" 40" x 40" 60" x 60" 70" x 70" Editions of 3 + 2 Artist Proofs Tyl...
Category

2010s Contemporary Color Photography

Materials

Luster, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print

Isabelle Van Zeijl - All For Love, Photography 2020, Printed After
By Isabelle Van Zeijl
Located in Greenwich, CT
All For Love C-print on Fuji Paper Collection: FLOWER LOVE One size: 40.5 x 40.5 Edition of 8 + 2 Artist Proofs FLOWER LOVE Roses warm you heart, they inspire us to nurture and take...
Category

2010s Contemporary Color Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Digital, Arch...

Isabelle Van Zeijl - Revive Portrait, Photography 2020, Printed After
By Isabelle Van Zeijl
Located in Greenwich, CT
Revive Portrait C-print on Fuji Paper Collection: THE REBIRTH OF THE DUTCH FLOWER One size: 44.5 x 40.5 Edition of 8 + 2 Artist Proofs THE REBIRTH OF THE DUTCH FLOWER COLLECTION Isa...
Category

2010s Contemporary Color Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Digital, Arch...

Isabelle Van Zeijl - Rebirth Portrait, Photography 2020, Printed After
By Isabelle Van Zeijl
Located in Greenwich, CT
Rebirth Portrait C-print on Fuji Paper Collection: THE REBIRTH OF THE DUTCH FLOWER One size: 44.5 x 40.5 Edition of 8 + 2 Artist Proofs THE REBIRTH OF THE DUTCH FLOWER COLLECTION Is...
Category

2010s Contemporary Color Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Digital, Arch...

Recently Viewed

View All