28 Aug 2011

Gary Schneider, 'HandPrint Portraits, Johannesburg' at David Krut Projects, New York

David Krut Projects is pleased to present HandPrint Portraits, Johannesburg, a solo exhibition of recent photographs by South African born artist, Gary Schneider. Schneider has been making HandPrint portraits since 1996, but has never before had a show solely devoted to this work. This exhibition marks the first time Schneider has explored a particular community outside of his family and friends.

'These photographs, made without a camera, are sweat and heat imprints into film emulsion. I consider handprint portraits to be as expressive as any of a face, more private, and possibly more revealing. They do not reveal race and, often, neither gender nor age. I borrow the imprint technique from the caves of Lascaux, (the earliest know examples of self identification) the 'Shroud of Turin', Marcel Duchamp's 'Female Fig Leaf,' Yves Klein's body prints, Jasper John's 'Studies for Skin', and 19th century Spirit Photography.'
--Gary Schneider

In July 2011, David Krut Projects, Johannesburg, presented a survey of Schneider's work; it was his first exhibition in South Africa. While in Johannesburg, Schneider set up a small darkroom at Wits University Art School where he made over 50 HandPrints of artists and other members of the creative community. This New York exhibition presents a small selection of these portraits, including large-scale handprints of Senzeni Marasela, Jo Ractliffe, William Kentridge, Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi, Frank Malaba and David Goldblatt. In December 2011, Schneider will return to South Africa to continue this typological exploration in Cape Town.

Gary Schneider was born in South Africa and moved to New York where he has lived since 1977. He received a Bachelors of Fine Art from Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town, South Africa, and a Masters of Fine Art from Pratt Institute in New York. Schneider is faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Solo exhibitions include: Artist Space, NY; The Musee de L'Elysee Lausanne, Switzerland; The International Center of Photography, NY; Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii; The Sackler Museum, Boston; The Museum of Photographic Art, San Diego; and The Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland. Schneider received an Eisenstaedt award from Life Magazine, a National Endowment for The Arts grant and a Lou Stoumen Award. Schneider's most recent book, 'HandBook,' was published in 2010 by Aperture Foundation, and a new book featuring HandPrints from South Africa is forthcoming. Schneider's work is represented in numerous public collections including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Canada, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Whitney Museum, Yale University Art Museum, The Guggenheim Museum, and The Boston Museum of Fine Art.