Text by Lewis Baltz, Stephan Berg, Joshua Chang, Peter Geimer, Martin Germann, Stefan Gronert, Alessandra Nappo, Christoph Ribbat, Christoph Schaden, Larry Sultan.
Hbk, 8 x 10.25 in. / 128 pgs / 69 color / 16 bw. | 10/27/2015 | Not available $47.50
Published by D.A.P.. Text by Sandra S. Phillips, Robert F. Forth.
In 1977, American photographers Larry Sultan (1946–2009) and Mike Mandel (born 1950) published a book of photographs titled Evidence. The book was the culmination of a two-year search through the archives of 77 government agencies, educational institutions and corporations, including General Atomic Company, Jet Propulsion Laboratories, the San Jose Police Department and the United States Department of the Interior. The original pictures were made as objective records of activities unfamiliar to the lay public: the scenes of crimes, aeronautical engineering tests, industrial experiments and other subjects. Sifting through some two million images, Mandel and Sultan assembled a careful sequence of 59 pictures. The book was thoughtfully designed to depict the photographs in terms of their “documentary” origins, unaccompanied by identifying captions. Faced with a world of mysterious events and unfathomable activities, the reader is confronted with only the sequential narrative imagery of the book and thus must actively participate in creating its meaning. Following a revised edition of the book in 2003 and a 2017 reprint—both of which sold out quickly and have become highly collectible—Evidence is back in print nearly 50 years after its initial publication. This new, definitive edition features revelatory new scans—many made from the original negatives—which greatly enhance the eerie objectivity conveyed by the book’s title. In many cases, the original negatives revealed that crops had been made to the image by the agencies; the complete images are restored here. The jacketless, library-style binding of the original 1977 edition is also restored, further underscoring its impersonal documentlike character and its canonical status.
Published by D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers. Text by Sandra Phillips, Robert Forth.
In 1977, photographers Larry Sultan (1946–2009) and Mike Mandel (born 1950) published a book that would radically transform both photography and the photobook canon—a book described by Martin Parr, in The Photobook: A History, as "one of the most beautiful, dense and puzzling photobooks in existence, an endless visual box of tricks." Sultan and Mandel sifted through thousands of photographs in the files of the Bechtel Corporation, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, the US Department of the Interior, Stanford Research Institute and a hundred other corporations, American government agencies and educational, medical and technical institutions. They were looking for photographs that were made and used as transparent documents and purely objective instruments—as evidence, in short.
Selecting 59 of the best, they published these images with the care you would expect to find in a high-quality art photography book, issuing them in 1977 in a simple, limited-edition volume titled Evidence.
Long established as a photobook classic and a seminal example of conceptual photography, Evidence was reissued as a facsimile edition in 2004 by D.A.P. with a new spread of images and a group of black-and-white illustrations selected by the artists from an archive of photographs that were not included in the original book, plus a commissioned essay by Sandra Phillips. Today both this reissue and the original 1977 publication are exceptionally rare and command high prices.
D.A.P. now reprints the 2004 edition of Evidence, making available to a general readership a truly pioneering and canonical photobook.
Published by D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers. Text by Charlotte Cotton, Connie Lewallen, Thomas Wagner, Carter Ratcliff, Jonathan Lethem.
The artistic collaboration between Larry Sultan (1946-2009) and Mike Mandel (born 1950) began in 1972, when they were both graduate students at the San Francisco Art Institute. Over the next 30 years, they created 20 photographic projects: two publications (including the landmark book Evidence); two exhibitions; the film, JPL; three public commissions; and 12 billboard series displayed on sites throughout California and the continental U.S. This collaboration enabled Sultan and Mandel to evolve a seemingly authorless style; most of their works adapted found imagery from archives or from popular media, neutralizing the intended commercial or documentary content by uncovering and emphasizing the inherent banality.
This substantial overview surveys Sultan and Mandel's 30 years of collaboration beginning with early billboard projects investigating themes of Californian culture and wealth, such as "Oranges on Fire" and "Cornucopia", based on a 1955 hand-tinted postcard of a model posing amid ripe oranges, and bearing the tagline: "California Gold Fills the Horn of Plenty To Overflowing." Their billboard projects continue with the tongue in cheek Ties and Whose News? in which the secondary title, "Whose News Abuses You?" is slyly imbedded in the image; and the duo's final billboard collaboration, Trouble Spots, a billboard project that used conflated and opposing ideologies in both fictitious and real locations.
Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel continues this extensive overview by chronicling their work with sourced images in the exhibitions Replaced (1975); Newsroom (1983); and the publications How to Read Music in One Evening (1974) and Evidence (1977). Five critical essays provide further insights on their collaboration.
Published by D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers. Essays by Sandra Philips and Robert Forth.
In 1977, photographers Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel sifted through thousands of photographs in the files of the Bechtel Corporation, the Beverly Hills Police Department, the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Stanford Research Institute and a hundred other corporations, American government agencies, and educational, medical and technical institutions. They were looking for photographs that were made and used as transparent documents and purely objective instruments--as evidence, in short. Selecting 50 of the best, they printed these images with the care you would expect to find in a high-quality art photography book, publishing them in a simple, limited-edition volume titled Evidence. The concept for the book was clear: select photographs intended to be used as objective evidence and show that it is never that simple. Now an undisputed classic in the photo world, considered a seminal harbinger of conceptual photography, Evidence is nearly impossible to find. This new edition is being published in recognition of the project's continued relevance, and will contain a facsimile copy of the original book plus a newly commissioned scholarly essay by Sandra Phillips of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Additionally, this edition will include a new spread of images and a group of black-and-white illustrations selected by the artists from an archive of photographs that were not included in the original book.
Published by ARTBOOK | DIGITAL. Essays by Sandra Philips and Robert Forth.
In 1977, photographers Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel sifted through thousands of photographs in the files of the Bechtel Corporation, the Beverly Hills Police Department, the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Stanford Research Institute and a hundred other corporations, American government agencies, and educational, medical and technical institutions. They were looking for photographs that were made and used as transparent documents and purely objective instruments--as evidence, in short. Selecting 50 of the best, they printed these images with the care you would expect to find in a high-quality art photography book, publishing them in a simple, limited-edition volume titled Evidence. The concept for the book was clear: select photographs intended to be used as objective evidence and show that it is never that simple. Now an undisputed classic in the photo world, considered a seminal harbinger of conceptual photography, the first edition of Evidence is nearly impossible to find.
In recognition of the project's continued relevance D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers published a new edition in 2004, which also sold out quickly and is no longer available. Containing a facsimile copy of the original book plus a newly commissioned scholarly essay by Sandra Phillips of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the D.A.P. edition included a new spread of images and a group of black-and-white illustrations selected by the artists from an archive of photographs that were not included in the original book. This is the eBook edition of the 2004 Evidence.
Published by Kerber. Text by Lewis Baltz, Stephan Berg, Joshua Chang, Peter Geimer, Martin Germann, Stefan Gronert, Alessandra Nappo, Christoph Ribbat, Christoph Schaden, Larry Sultan.
The work of Californian photographer Larry Sultan (1946-2009) has become known as one of the central oeuvres of post-conceptual photography. Since 1972, he and Los Angeles-based photographer Mike Mandel have collaborated on numerous projects, including the controversial photo-essay Evidence. This series consists of revealing images plucked from government and corporate archives, such as police and fire departments, aerospace and engineering firms. Later on, in 2004, Sultan published his provocative series The Valley, an exposé of the adult film industry, in which the artist focused on the suburban neighborhoods and middle-class family homes that serve as pornographic sets. Including images from these series and more, this publication gives a comprehensive overview of Sultan's career as a conceptual photographer.
Larry Sultan & Mike Mandel: Evidence
Larry Sultan & Mike Mandel
Larry Sultan & Mike Mandel: Evidence
Larry Sultan & Mike Mandel: Evidence eBook
Larry Sultan