Gary Schneider
(American, b. 1954 South Africa)
(American, b. 1954 South Africa)
John In Sixteen Parts, 1997
Gary Schneider, known for his startling works examining identity, dissects the face of his partner in John In Sixteen Parts. This mural-sized portrait is comprised of sixteen large photographs of segments of John’s face, created from a “performance” in which Schneider painted John’s visage using tiny spotlights of directed lights, during extremely long exposures of up to half an hour, during which every movement of John’s face was recorded. The individual sections say very little about John himself; combined, they suggest a surreal view of the man’s spirit, and examine the subjective nature of perception.
Born in South Africa in 1954, Gary Schneider was educated at the University of Cape Town, South Africa (BFA, 1977) and the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn (MFA, 1979). His photographs have been exhibited at the Musee de l’Elysee Lausanne, Switzerland; the Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago; and the PPOW Gallery in New York, among others. His works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others.