Gary Schneider

Gary Schneider (b. 1954) is a South African-born American photographer. Born in East London and raised in Cape Town, Gary Schneider lives and works in New York. He has a BFA from Michaelis School of Fine Art, Cape Town, South Africa and an MFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. Schneider’s twin obsessions of biology and portraiture have led to series such as, “The Genetic Self-Portrait” and “Botanical.” In “Genetic Self-Portrait” he worked with materials that varied from nineteenth century negatives found at a flea market to complex modern medical photo microscopy, in collaboration with scientists. Both bodies of work illuminate the artist’s ongoing absorption with science and his intertwined obsessions with found objects, biography, and autobiography. In addition to being known as a respected and experimental photographer, Schneider also enjoys a reputation as an elite printer.  In addition to his own output, Schneider, earlier in his career printed for no less a master than Irving Penn, among others.  Schneider is currently a faculty member at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Gary Schneider was invited to David Krut Workshop New York’s print workshop in 2002, where he produced two artworks using photogravure printmaking. Since this collaboration Schneider has exhibited at David Krut Projects (DKP) Johannesburg three times; once in 2005 with Carte de Visite, again in 2006 with Gary Schneider: Nudes and, most recently, in 2011 with Skin which was accompanied by a catalogue by Kate McCrickard. He has also shown at DKP New York, where in 2011, he exhibited a series of hand portraits.