Evidence

by Mike Mandel, Larry Sultan

The enormously influential and classic 1977 photobook of found institutional photography, drawn from various archives, and presented uncaptioned thus unmoored from their original context. Edited by Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel; afterword by Robert F. Forth. Unpaginated [72 pages]; 59 full-page duo-toned b&w plates; 10 x 9.25 inches. List of government agencies, educational institutions and corporations that permitted access to their files.

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction

28 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Mike Mandel grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles during a period of expansion and transformation of the landscape that included the appearance of billboards, strip malls, and miles of freeways. This experience informs much of his work which questions the meaning of photographic imagery within popular culture and draws from snapshots, advertising, news photographs, and public and corporate archives. Much of this work resulted in self-published artist's books including Myself: Timed Exposures (1971), Seven Never Before Published Portraits of Edward Weston (1974), The Baseball-Photographer Trading Cards (1975), and Making Good Time (1989).

In 1977, Mandel and Larry Sultan collaborated on the seminal photographic book Evidence, a book comprised of file photographs from engineering, corporate and government agencies. Over a period of twenty-five years, Mandel and Sultan designed both temporary (billboards) and permanent (tile mosaic) artworks specifically for public sites. Their collaboration has been documented in a recent monograph Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel (2012).

A publication of Mandel’s 1970s conceptual projects Good 70s was published in 2015. Since the early '90s Mandel's work has worked extensively on public art projects transforming photographic imagery into large scale glass and ceramic tile mosaic murals. Mandel's recent projects have been in collaboration with his wife, Chantal Zakari. Their book, The State of Ata (2010) speaks to the clash between Islam and secularism in Turkey. Their book They Came to Baghdad (2012) is a response to the Iraq War, and Lockdown Archive (2015) is a record of all the images uploaded to the web that relate to the military occupation of Watertown after the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013.

Reviews

[Philip Crowther · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of photographs scrapped from corporate and government archives of photographs intended to be unbiased records (primarily records of scientific research): all of the photos started out their journey as evidence. Then, they were re-contextualized by Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel as objects worth of aesthetic consideration, changing them into something new. They come alive in this book as art and show an amazing level of poetry and beauty I would not have expected.


I think the thing that is so charming to me about these images is that each photograph on its own, and entirely on accident, is somehow able to achieve aesthetically what many photographers will spend years and years trying to figure out how to do on purpose - little tricks of the frame and the negative/positive space that, if seen over and over again in the work of a single artist, would signify a true mastery of the craft and that, when seen in any single photography, open up the potential of the photograph as a work of poetry. It's hard to articulate just how wonderful some of these little tricks are, or even necessarily what they are, but if anyone reading this is a fan of abstract art, it's that same quality that you'll find in great works of abstract expressionism that differentiate them from the pieces produced in your wine and paint night with your friends - the thing that explains why the canvas you dripped 10 different colors of paint onto at random just doesn't live up to the Pollock that inspired it. There is just something incredible to me about anything found out there in the world that possesses these qualities almost as if out of nowhere - little, magical pieces of existence speaking in the same vaulted vernacular as the great works of art. Every photograph contained in this book falls into that category for me, and together they achieve this kind of step into the metaphysical for me.

Overall, I find this collection absolutely astounding, and I would highly suggest anyone with an interest in art or photography take a gander - (also, and this is a pro tip here: you won't have to actually get the book if you want to see the images, all of them are available for free on Larry Sultan's website - I really only got the physical copy bc I have a pretty intense book buying problem and increasingly poor self-control when it comes to art books.)

I'd say this is tied with Robert Frank's The Americans as my favorite photobook, so definitely check it out if you get a chance (but also definitely don't tell me if you don't like the pics, I will judge you and I'd really prefer to not have to think less of my friends for choosing Falsity.)

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. The mystery, alienation. Fragments. Think I had been been looking for this book long before I knew it existed. Captures far better what I’ve attempted with some personal projects. Absolutely inspiring.

[dv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro del 1977 che ha contribuito a dar forma ai successivi 40 anni di fotografia almeno tanto quanto le quasi contemporanee esposizioni e libri dei "New topographics" e di William Eggleston. Al centro di questo lavoro è l’uso concettuale dell’immagine d’archivio e l’elevazione dell’opera di “editing” a un valore forse più grande di quello delle immagini stesse (impensabili, senza quest’opera, autori come Jason Fulford). In più, un libro che senza voler essere politico lo è, nel suo presentarsi come critica della tecnocrazia e del dominio dell’uomo sulla natura. Capolavoro della storia della fotografia.

[Adam Thorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book. I'm in awe of it. It excites and terrifies me in equal parts. Full of found images from archives of science labs, police departments, and hospitals, this book contains some of the edgiest, most exciting pictures I've ever seen. They were all taken solely for evidentiary purposes, and it's the best fine art photography book there is. It puts every photographer to shame. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make a body of work with half as much excitement and wonder.

[Stephanie McGarrah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting conceptual photography book. I didn't know anything about Sultan and Mandel going into this, or conceptual photography in general, so the postscript was informative. There are no comments on the "evidence," only a long alphabetical list of the institutions, companies and agencies. where Sultan and Mandel were granted access to tons of photographs hidden away in archives. I can't imagine how many they went through before they selected these images.

[Karen Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does each photo must have a caption to limit it's meaning?
The obscurity or even absurdity generated by the lack of context. All the images are devoid of aesthetic choices, since photography was used as a tool rather than an art practice.

[Chris Motta · Rating 5 out of 5]

editing mastery

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite of all of Sultan's work. From concept to execution, this book is a revelation in photography.

[Sean Patrick Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely monumental in the world of photobooks and contemporary art - if you've ever looked at a sequence of images and asked "what am I looking at?", you've probably got Evidence to thank.

[Nene]

na aula
no powerpoint