There’s no small shortage of polaroid celebration these days. Similarly, there seems no small shortage of Polaroid based exhibitions of famous subjects and photographers.

London’s Colnaghi Gallery has on view, through November 12, 2010, a selection of photographs by Julian Schanbel.

Curated by Petra Giloy-Hirtz, the exhibition will present a selection of photographs, mostly previously unpublished, which offer an insight into the enigmatic character of the artist and a glimpse into his working environment. Works on view include images of Schnabel’s family and friends, such as Lou Reed, Placido Domingo and Mickey Rourke, alongside Polaroids of the artist’s private spaces within the Palazzo Chupi on New York’s Lower West Side and the interiors and surroundings of his studios in Brooklyn, Montauk and Manhattan. Schnabel took these extraordinary large-format Polaroids, both in brilliant colour and black-and-white, using a dolly-mounted 20 x 24 in. 1970s camera, and in some cases the artist has painted on the surfaces of the photographs. Together these Polaroids create a unique tableau, both intensely personal and poetic.

Colnaghi
15 Old Bond Street
London W1

Images from the exhibition, via mashKulture, after the jump.

Nowness has a lovely little feature on Christopher Makos, an artist notable for introducing Andy Warhol to polaroids and for (at the moment) exhibiting some of those photographs at Clic in East Hampton, New York (up to September 5, 2010).

Christopher Makos: Polaroids focuses on the artist’s experiences in the late 1970s and 1980s. The photographs cover Andy Warhol’s factory to beach scenes to candid shots of celebrities like Debby Harry. All are shot on Makos’ trusty Polaroid SX-70.

A fitting exhibition given recent revived interest in the medium.

More images after the jump. Head to Nowness for full information on Makos.