Upcoming exhibition
PHOTO LONDON 2026
I am pleased to share that a selection of my photographic works will be presented at Photo London 2026, one of the leading international fairs dedicated to photography. The presentation will be hosted by Ira Stehmann Fine Art, who will be exhibiting a selection of my recent works as part of their curated booth.
National Hall, Olympia
Hammersmith Road
London W148UX
Preview Days: 13 – 14 May 2026
Public Opening: 15 – 17 May 2026
New bronze sculpture
“Herr/Frau Nakamura, 2024”
52 × 19 × 14 cm
20 ½ x 7 ½ x 5 ½ in
Edition of 7
Retrospective monograph
PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS 2013 – 2025
“In a time oversaturated with images and quick consumption, Marcus Schaefer’s photographic work stands as a quiet rebellion. It defies easy categorization, resists superficial clarity, and insists on depth, ambiguity, and sensation. Spanning more than a decade, this body of work, collected in Marcus Schaefer — Photographic Works 2013–2025, is not merely a retrospective, but a portal into a unique aesthetic universe: one where the known is made strange, and the invisible is drawn delicately into view. From abstract portraits and conceptual still lifes to spectral nudes, object studies, and previously unseen street and travel images, Schaefer’s photographs speak in visual riddles. They are less concerned with the outer appearance of things than with the inward resonance they provoke. This retrospective captures the evolution of that vision across twelve years — a period during which Schaefer’s vocabulary has grown more refined, his experiments more confident, and his voice more assured.”
— Christina Clemm
Featuring 500+ photographs
24 × 30 cm
308 pages
First edition of 500 copies
Journal
THE MATERIALIZATION OF TIME Vol. 2
“The Materialization of Time Vol. 2 is a continuation of the first volume and once again explores time as a vast structure of memory, information and interconnectedness. Every object is a fossil of consciousness—a crystallization of lived time. A finished piece of art does not merely represent a moment or period of time; it is that moment or period of time, transfigured into form. Objects, then, are not merely things. They are capsules of lived time. Each object carries within it the hours, memories and emotional weather from which it was formed. When someone encounters them, this time does not remain sealed—it unfolds anew within their own stream of experience. My temporal fingerprints are embedded in the piece, yet the viewer’s consciousness fuses with it, creating a dialogue across dimensions of subjectivity. It is a form of time travel: not the transport of bodies through eras, but the sending forward of lived experience in condensed, tangible form.
With this publication I invite you to witness these fossils of consciousness, these condensed fragments of human existence. May they awaken in you not only a recognition of time’s passage but also a sense of its boundless potential to be reimagined, re-lived and re-shaped.”
— Marcus Schaefer
Featuring paintings, drawings & sculptures
35 × 50 cm
36 pages
Limited edition of 30 copies
Designed & published by Marcus Schaefer Studio
Editorial assignment
THE NEW YORKER
The creative team at The New Yorker commissioned me to create a visual piece to accompany a fiction story by Miriam Toews.
Featuring photography
200 x 270 mm
Out in print in August 2025
Read online here
Bronze sculpture
“Frau/Herr Ontowo, 2024”
92 x 30 x 30 cm
36 1/5 x 11 4/5 x 11 4/5 in
Edition of 7
Editorial assignment
Notes on Beauty – Inaugural Issue
by Document Journal
“This inaugural issue brings together a wide constellation of voices—from artists and philosophers to designers, writers, and photographers—each offering their own response to the question of what beauty means, and what it might still become. Some of the conversations are direct and tender. Others are deliberately oblique, circling the idea rather than trying to pin it down. Because to talk about beauty is to talk about what we long for, and longing is not tidy. It’s contradictory. It’s charged.”
— Nick Vogelson (Editor in Chief)
Featuring three photographs
Out in print in May 2025
Click here to read more about this new magazine
MiniZine
NACHTSCHATTEN GESTALTEN
“In an age where the self is increasingly fragmented, where identity dissolves into the static of algorithmic precision, „Nachtschatten Gestalten“ emerges as a visual meditation on human estrangement. The large-format drawings present figures that hover between presence and absence—sleepwalking through the fabric of existence, their identities eroded by the machinery of modernity. Shadows of their former selves, they drift in a perpetual state of detachment, together yet alone, present yet ungraspable…
…„Nachtschatten Gestalten“ speaks to a world where human intimacy has become a selfish endeavor—an echo chamber of the self rather than a genuine encounter with the other. The people depicted here are locked in moments of mutual absence, seeking meaning in an environment that systematically erodes it.
This is the futile search for identity in a landscape where identity itself is a remnant, where humanity, once rich in nuance, is subsumed by a cold arithmetic of efficiency.”
— Marcus Schaefer
Featuring large format drawings created between 2020-2023
17 × 25 cm
64 pages
Limited edition of 50 copies
Designed & published by Marcus Schaefer Studio
Sculpture
“Das anonyme Gesicht, 2024”
52 x 14 x 14 cm
20 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 5 in
[plaster stone, iron steel]
Editorial assignment
Vogue Germany
Featuring photography
213 x 276 mm
Out in print in May 2025
Commercial assignment
Dior Magazine #49
“The renowned creative agency Baron+Baron and the team at Dior commissioned me to capture an alternative vision of their Chiffre Rouge watch collection. My approach was to challenge the conventional notion of time as a linear construct and instead explore it as something more fluid and interconnected. I see time as a medium—an invisible network or database where past, present, and future continuously shape and record one another. It is a kind of technology, a tool that consciousness uses to experience itself in a structured yet ever-evolving way. Through this series, I sought to visualize this perspective, creating images that transcend the ordinary and invite a deeper contemplation of time’s true nature.”
— Marcus Schaefer
Featuring photographs
230 x 300 mm
Out in print in February 2025
Journal
The Materialization of Time
“The concept of materializing time through art stands at the intersection of philosophy, creativity, and the enigma of physics. Time, in its purest form, is intangible—an abstract dimension that resists material representation. Yet, what if we could bridge that gap and render time into objects, translating its essence into tangible forms? Such an approach invites us to think of time not as a simple, linear sequence but as a complex structure that stores memory and information, forming an intricate web of interconnected moments. I perceive time as a medium, much like an invisible network or database, where past, present, and future continuously influence and record one another.”
— Marcus Schaefer
Featuring paintings, drawings & sculptures
35 × 50 cm
36 pages
Limited edition of 50 copies
Designed & published by Marcus Schaefer Studio
Cover assignment
The New York Times Magazine
„For this cover story The New York Times commissioned me to create photographs that visualize the experience of chronic pain. Chronic pain is inherently invisible, which presents the challenge of making it perceptible through imagery. I aimed to capture photographs that not only represent pain but also possess a sense of visual poetry, avoiding imagery that might feel unpleasant or distressing.“
— Marcus Schaefer
Featuring photographs
245 x 300 mm
Out in print on the 19th of January 2025
Read story online here
Editorial assignment
Harper’s Bazaar Italia
ISSUE #16
Out December 2024
Featuring photography
Painting
“Ein Treffen im Vakuum der Zeit, 2024”
195 x 130 cm
76 3/4 x 51 1/5 in
[oil pastel, acrylic & charcoal on linen]
Book Launch & Signing
Mapping Subconsciousness
“There is a spectral nature in photography - it can have a dark, absorbing element to it - something between life and the afterlife. It is like a time capsule that grants you the magical tool to go back and forth in time and make the now look like a timeless place in the void.”
— Marcus Schaefer
Wednesday, 16th of October 2024 / 6 pm
Delpire & Co.
13 Rue de L’Abbaye
75006 Paris
Featuring photographs
19 x 25,5 cm
116 pages
Edition of 400
Please find more details about the launch here
Sculpture
“Frau/Herr Dumitri, 2024”
102 x 14 x 12 cm
40 1/6 x 5 1/2 x 4 2/3 in
[plaster stone, iron steel]
TV Report
The Surrealist Manifesto: Marking a century of avant-garde art
As part of their documentary about the 100th anniversary of the surrealism movement FRANCE 24 visited me in my atelier to talk about my practices as an artist who continues the surrealist tradition in modern times.
Featuring photographs, paintings and sculptures
See full documentary here
Portraits assignment
Document Journal No. 24
“Scientist Jacques Vallée and Scholar Jeffrey J. Kripal Challenge the Limits of Knowledge”
290 x 250 mm
Out in print May 2024
Interview
Coveteur Artist Spotlight
“NOSTALGIC YET FUTURISTIC, INTERGALACTIC YET HUMAN, PSYCHEDELIC YET MONOCHROMATIC”
Featuring photographs, paintings and sculptures
Read full Interview online here
Commercial assignment
Hermès Paris
“TIME, A HERMÈS OBJECT”
Print & motion campaign worldwide
See motion campaign here
Portraits assignment
Document Journal No. 23
“Constance Debré on dirty freedoms”
290 x 250 mm
Out in print November 2023
Sculpture
“Frau/Herr Wiśniewski/a, 2023”
67 x 44 x 26 cm
26 1/3 x 17 1/3 x 10 1/3 in
[plaster stone, iron steel]
Feature
Fotografi #4 2023
Cover and 12 page feature of a selection of my photographic work in the new issue of Magasinet Fotografi published by Preus Museum - the Norwegian National Museum of Photography
Read more here
Advertorial
Twin x Cartier
“Grain de Café Collection”
The magazine commissioned me to capture Cartier’s new jewellery collection with a surreal, otherworldly photographic approach.
245 x 345 mm
Limited copies available from October 2023
See all images here
Essay
British Vogue
“Out of the shadows”
212 x 284 mm
Out in print September 2023
Editorial
Shadowplay Magazine
Shadowplay is a new biannual publication working as an open window on diversity of contemporary art. It investigates and explores aesthetics through the eyes of photographers, writers, artists and other industry insiders, creating new narratives around beauty and its pervasive influence.
230 x 300 mm
Limited copies available in July 2023
See full story here
Past group show
Photo Basel 2023
A selection of my photographs will be presented at Photo Basel
Volkshaus Basel
Rebgasse 12-14
4058 Basel
Exhibition on view 13-18 June 2023
Portrait assignment
The New York Times Magazine
Portraits of Literature Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux
Out in print on May 7th, 2023
Read full story here here
Editorial assignment
Anima Issue One
“Talking chairs”
‘Anima’ is Port Magazine’s new annual print design supplement in collaboration with curator Deyan Sudjic and has been published to coincide with this year’s Salone del Mobile. Issue One celebrates Milan’s heritage as the birthplace of contemporary design, its global significance, and explores its future as a continuing centre for creative innovation. It goes behind the scenes in its studios and factories, delving into the work of revered practitioners and the next generation.
201 x 271 mm
On sale from 3rd of May 2023
Find out more about Anima here
Collaboration
Berlin State Opera
“Melancholy of Resistance”
A series of photographs are accompanying the Opera “Melancholy of Resistance” by László Krasznahorkai in the upcoming annual season preview printed booklet & film 2023/24. In collaboration with design agency Herburg Weiland.
105 x 149 mm
Printed booklet out in April 2023
Find out more about the booklet here
Past group show
KunstRai Art Fair 2023
Showing photographs
3-7 May 2023
Europahal RAI Amsterdam
Limited edition prints available
Past group show
Kahmann Gallery Berlin Opening
Showing a new series of sculptures & photographs
Grand Opening Saturday 4th of March 2023 (12-7pm)
Hohenzollerndamm 196
10717 Berlin
Germany
Exhibition on view from March 4th until end of April 2023
Essay
The New York Times
I don’t mind if you say you have ‘a little O.C.D.’
Out in print on January 25th, 2023
Read full article here
Editorial
Vogue Italia
November Issue 2022 - Beauty
Past group show
Haute Photographie Rotterdam 2023
Showing photographs
Grand Opening Wednesday February 8th
Keilestraat 9
Rotterdam
The Netherlands
Exhibition on view from February 8th - 12th 2023
Editorial
Shadowplay Magazine
Shadowplay is a new biannual publication working as an open window on diversity of contemporary art. It investigates and explores aesthetics through the eyes of photographers, writers, artists and other industry insiders, creating new narratives around beauty and its pervasive influence.
The magazine commissioned me to create a 20 pages mixed-media story including photographs, drawings & sculptures.
230 x 300 mm
Limited copies available in November 2022
Find out more about the magazine here
Editorial
Twin Magazine
Twin is a hardback biannual magazine which showcases disobedient, rebellious and visionary creative voices through art and cultural features.
The magazine commissioned me to capture the top-notch jewellery brands’ most recent creations with a new, creative photographic approach.
245 x 345 mm
Limited copies available from mid October 2022
See all images here
Sculpture
“Das Nostalgie Gesicht, 2022”
65 x 27 x 16 cm
25 2/3 x 10 2/3 x 6 1/3 inches
[Plaster stone sculpture on wooden block]
Editorial
Buckley Magazine Vol. 1
Buckley is a bi-annual publication dedicated to hedonism, style and life with dogs.
Featuring 9 photographs.
230 x 300 mm
Limited copies available in July 2022
See more here
Painting
“Sommernachtgestalten, 2022”
120 x 150 cm
47 1/4 x 55 1/8 in
[oil pastel, acrylic & charcoal on canvas]
Past group show
Photo Basel 2022
A selection of my photographs are presented at Photo Basel
Volkshaus Basel
Rebgasse 12-14
4058 Basel
Exhibition on view 14-19 June 2022
Feature
European Photography Cover
#110
I am proud to announce that one of my art works was chosen for the cover of the new issue of European Photography, which is an independent art publication for international contemporary photography from Berlin. The most recent issue is dedicated to current trends in black-and-white photography.
“Black and white are the original colors of photography, but also a code that shapes our conception of the past and the present, both politically and aesthetically.”
Introduction by Andreas Müller-Pohle
Face with stones, 2020
24 x 30 cm
Past group show
PAN Amsterdam 2021
The photograph “Face Fragments” will be part of a group exhibition at PAN Amsterdam 2021.
Exhibition on view 14-21 November
RAI Amsterdam
Europaplein 24
1078 GZ Amsterdam
Face fragments, 2018
90 x 110 cm
Editorial
British Vogue
November Issue 2021
Drawing
Drei nackte Frauen, 2021
140 x 160 cm
55 1/8 x 63 inches
Charcoal on uncoated cartridge paper roll
Feature
Musée Magazine
Vanguard of Photography Culture
Musée Magazine is a dynamic, print and digital biannual, and interactive website dedicated to featuring works by emerging and established artists.
Read full feature here
Editorial
Carcy Magazine Vol. 6
“Crépuscule Anatomy”
Carcy Magazine - a reference to underdressing and stepping out of societal norms - is a Paris-born, large format journal focused on the topic and representation of eroticism. It’s slick, minimalist design and hybrid content seeks to portray all genders, identities and sexualities in order to sublimate and widen notions of beauty and sensuality.
320 x 240 mm
Limited copies available from 4th of May 2021
Drawing
Frauengespräche, 2021
120 x 160 cm
47 1/4 x 63 inches
Charcoal on uncoated cartridge paper roll
Editorial
Pan & the Dream Vol. 4
Ghost Stories
Pan & the Dream is an annual art publication from New York that invites artists, writers and photographers to share their work and their views on a chosen subject. The fourth issue is about the beauty of the otherworldly, the ethereal, spirits, the paranormal, the unexplainable, dreams and memories.
37 x 26 cm
Edition of 1000
Find out more about the magazine here
Advertorial
Le Monde d`Hermès No.74
Hermès Paris commissioned me to shoot their unique jewelry collection for Le Monde d`Hermès with Creative Director Benjamin Grillon and stylist Lyson Marchessault.
See full story here