From the lyrics of Outkast's pop anthem Hey Ya to clues laid out for the amnesiac protagonist in Christopher Nolan's film Memento, the Polaroid has had a significant impact on contemporary culture, but sadly it's time has run out.
The last batch of Polaroid film will expire this month bringing an end more than 60 years of history and to celebrate it, Pump House Gallery is hosting the exhibition Shake It: An instant History of the Polaroid, for the rest of the year.
Besides work by some of the most important artists working with the medium, the show will also include Polaroids from other diverse professions and disciplines such as forensics, archaeology, medicine, filmmaking and fashion, as well as those of amateurs and enthusiasts.
Many of the works in this exhibition have never been shown in the UK before, such as David Hockney's large composite called Nicholas Wilder Studying Picasso, which references the stylisation and methods of the cubists, Michael Snow's play on the immediacy of the image, Authorization, and Guy Bourdin's intimate, small-scale surreal visions.
Other highlights include: - Andy Warhol's still-lifes of perfume bottles and shoes.
- The photographs that an avid shoe collector sticks on to her shoeboxes for ease of identification.
- Portraits of Richard Hamilton who, since 1968, has invited artist friends including Warhol, Francis Bacon, Robert Rauschenberg and Man Ray to photograph him.
- Polaroids of casting sessions from leading model agency Storm.
- The mutilated, distorted, blurred self portraits by Lucas Samaras, who discovered the malleability of the format's wet dyes.
- Araki's suggestively sumptuous flower pictures.
- The film made by Charles and Ray Eames's in 1972 advertising the legendary leather panelled SX-70 model.
Shake It: An Instant History of the Polaroid, Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park, October 7 to December 13, 11am to 4pm, free. Call 020 7350 0523 or visit pumphousegallery.org.uk.www.pumphousegallery.org.uk
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