Douglas Schneider
Douglas Schneider is an abstract realist painter specializing in oil painting, as well as highly integrated collage. His paintings blend crisp realism with dream-like abstraction, conjuring an enigmatic world. Schneider builds his paintings through a process of improvisation and excavation, guided by intuition and memory. He pulls images from historical photographs and documentary films as well as from his own life and his collections of everything from vintage toys to Life magazines to books on birds—an eclectic archive that contributes to the language of his paintings.
Biography
Douglas Schneider’s paintings blend crisp realism with dream-like abstraction, conjuring an enigmatic world. His new exhibition centers on the sublime, an idea that has intrigued philosophers from the ancient Greeks to Kant, Hegel and beyond—but that always has to do with a difficult-to-describe feeling of awe and the transcendence of everyday life. The Latin root, sublimis, means uplifted, high or exalted. When something is sublime, Schneider explains, “it transcends greatness, or beauty for the observer, like a deeply moving film or a transcendent piece of music. So when something is truly wonderful, or when someone acts in a truly noble way, it’s an example of sublimity.”
In his recent paintings, ballet dancers, a favorite subject, express the sublime with their bodies. Cavernous rooms suggest spaces that surpass comprehension. A woman gazes into abstract darkness as if on the brink of something, while light falls on her upswept hair. Schneider builds his paintings through a process of improvisation and excavation, guided by intuition and memory. He pulls images from historical photographs and documentary films as well as from his own life and his collections of everything from vintage toys to Life magazines to books on birds—an eclectic archive that contributes to the language of his paintings.
In its integration of representation and abstract expressionism, Schneider’s work recalls pioneering artists from James Rosenquist to Gerhard Richter. Like the post-Pop artists David Salle and Lari Pittman, he fearlessly blends styles, periods, influences and inspirations. His work is included in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Fisher Collection, the Anderson Collection and others, and has been exhibited internationally. Educated at the California College of Arts and Art Center, Pasadena, he lives and works in Oakland.
Education
1988–1991 California College of the Arts (formerly CCAC) BFA
1983–1985 The Art Center, Pasadena, CA
1981–1983 California State University at Long Beach
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2021 Night Visions, Diehl Gallery, Jackson Hole
2019 Sublime, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Art Market San Francisco, Caldwell Snyder Gallery
2017 Art Market San Francisco, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, SF, CA
Dance, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015 Empty Rooms, Caldwell Snyder Gallery San Francisco, CA
2013 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 MW Galleries, Aspen, CO
2006 Go Go Gallery, Miami, FL
2006 Meyer Milagros Gallery, Jackson, WY
2005 Kiddersmith Gallery, Boston, MA
2005 Larry Evans Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004 Pac III Silpakorn University Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2004 Scott White Contemporary Art, Telluride, CO
2003 Larry Evans Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2002 Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, ID
2002 Scott White Gallery, La Jolla, CA
2001 Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2000 SOMA Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1999 Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1997 Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1996 Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, Sen Francisco, CA
1995 SFMoMA, Artists Salon Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
1995 Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1995 Plaza Gallery, Bank of America World Headquarters, San Francisco, CA
1994 Evans-Gropper-Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1993 Larry Evans Fine Art San Francisco, CA
Selected Collections
SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA • The Fisher Collection, San Francisco, CA • The Anderson Collection, San Francisco, CA • Kent and Vicki Logan, Vail, CO • Jim and Patt Aitchison, Moraga, CA • David and Susan Coulter, New York, NY • Nancy Constlne, San Francisco, CA • Charles and Rebecca Daggs, Lafayette, CA • Dixon and Carol DolI, San Francisco, CA • Joe and Sandy Gandolfo, Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Press
PRESS
Selected Artworks
Education
1988–1991 California College of the Arts (formerly CCAC) BFA
1983–1985 The Art Center, Pasadena, CA
1981–1983 California State University at Long Beach
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2021 Night Visions, Diehl Gallery, Jackson Hole
2019 Sublime, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Art Market San Francisco, Caldwell Snyder Gallery
2017 Art Market San Francisco, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, SF, CA
Dance, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015 Empty Rooms, Caldwell Snyder Gallery San Francisco, CA
2013 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 MW Galleries, Aspen, CO
2006 Go Go Gallery, Miami, FL
2006 Meyer Milagros Gallery, Jackson, WY
2005 Kiddersmith Gallery, Boston, MA
2005 Larry Evans Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004 Pac III Silpakorn University Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2004 Scott White Contemporary Art, Telluride, CO
2003 Larry Evans Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2002 Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, ID
2002 Scott White Gallery, La Jolla, CA
2001 Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2000 SOMA Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1999 Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1997 Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1996 Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, Sen Francisco, CA
1995 SFMoMA, Artists Salon Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
1995 Larry Evans/James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1995 Plaza Gallery, Bank of America World Headquarters, San Francisco, CA
1994 Evans-Gropper-Willis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1993 Larry Evans Fine Art San Francisco, CA
Selected Collections
SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA • The Fisher Collection, San Francisco, CA • The Anderson Collection, San Francisco, CA • Kent and Vicki Logan, Vail, CO • Jim and Patt Aitchison, Moraga, CA • David and Susan Coulter, New York, NY • Nancy Constlne, San Francisco, CA • Charles and Rebecca Daggs, Lafayette, CA • Dixon and Carol DolI, San Francisco, CA • Joe and Sandy Gandolfo, Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Douglas Schneider’s paintings blend crisp realism with dream-like abstraction, conjuring an enigmatic world. His new exhibition centers on the sublime, an idea that has intrigued philosophers from the ancient Greeks to Kant, Hegel and beyond—but that always has to do with a difficult-to-describe feeling of awe and the transcendence of everyday life. The Latin root, sublimis, means uplifted, high or exalted. When something is sublime, Schneider explains, “it transcends greatness, or beauty for the observer, like a deeply moving film or a transcendent piece of music. So when something is truly wonderful, or when someone acts in a truly noble way, it’s an example of sublimity.”
In his recent paintings, ballet dancers, a favorite subject, express the sublime with their bodies. Cavernous rooms suggest spaces that surpass comprehension. A woman gazes into abstract darkness as if on the brink of something, while light falls on her upswept hair. Schneider builds his paintings through a process of improvisation and excavation, guided by intuition and memory. He pulls images from historical photographs and documentary films as well as from his own life and his collections of everything from vintage toys to Life magazines to books on birds—an eclectic archive that contributes to the language of his paintings.
In its integration of representation and abstract expressionism, Schneider’s work recalls pioneering artists from James Rosenquist to Gerhard Richter. Like the post-Pop artists David Salle and Lari Pittman, he fearlessly blends styles, periods, influences and inspirations. His work is included in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Fisher Collection, the Anderson Collection and others, and has been exhibited internationally. Educated at the California College of Arts and Art Center, Pasadena, he lives and works in Oakland.
Biography
Press
Douglas Schneider is an abstract realist painter specializing in oil painting, as well as highly integrated collage. His paintings blend crisp realism with dream-like abstraction, conjuring an enigmatic world. Schneider builds his paintings through a process of improvisation and excavation, guided by intuition and memory. He pulls images from historical photographs and documentary films as well as from his own life and his collections of everything from vintage toys to Life magazines to books on birds—an eclectic archive that contributes to the language of his paintings.
Douglas Schneider
Schneider’s paintings are multifaceted, conceptually rich collages of techniques, ideas, and source material. In energetic color, he blends figuration with abstraction, art historical references with contemporary motifs, text with image, and improvisation with structure.
Douglas Schneider is an abstract realist painter specializing in oil painting, as well as highly integrated collage. His paintings blend crisp realism with dream-like abstraction, conjuring an enigmatic world. Schneider builds his paintings through a process of improvisation and excavation, guided by intuition and memory. He pulls images from historical photographs and documentary films as well as from his own life and his collections of everything from vintage toys to Life magazines to books on birds—an eclectic archive that contributes to the language of his paintings.