KRISTEN MUELLER | DATE 12/4/2021

Artbook @ MoMA PS1 & Damiani Books present Mike Mandel speaking and signing 'Zone Eleven'

Saturday, December 4 at 5PM EST | 2PM PST, Artbook @ MoMA PS1 Bookstore and Damiani Books present the launch of Mike Mandel: Zone Eleven, both inside the Bookstore and live-streamed on Instagram @artbookps1. Mandel will present his new photobook, followed by a signing. Visit artbookstores.com/Zone-Eleven to pre-order signed copies and to register for the free event. For those attending in person, you will receive complimentary admission to MoMA PS1 to join the event in the Bookstore. COVID-19 vaccination (age 12+) and face masks (age 2+) are required for all visitors.

“Zone Eleven” is a reference to Ansel Adams’ Zone System, a method to control exposure of the negative to obtain a full range of tonality in the photographic print from the deepest black of Zone 0 to the brightest highlight in Zone 10. “Zone Eleven” is a metaphor coined by artist Mike Mandel in his challenge to create a book of Adams’ photographs that were taken outside of the bounds of his personal work.

In Zone Eleven, Mandel presents readers with a collection of Ansel Adams’ photographs that defy preconceived notions of what an Ansel Adams photograph “should” look like. The title, which refers to Adams' Zone System that categorizes the tonal spectrum between white and black into ten discrete zones, suggests that Zone Eleven goes beyond what is traditionally expected from Adams. Mandel researched over 50,000 images located within four different archives of Adams’ commercial and editorial assignments. Zone Eleven gathers these little-known photos, that are unlike Adams’ well-known landscape images, and creates a new context of facing page relationships and continuous sequence.

Mike Mandel is a Los Angeles-born photographer whose conceptual works have challenged and delighted viewers since the 1970s. Noted for their humor and originality, Mandel’s photographic endeavors often take a deceivingly simple idea as the impetus for a thought-compelling project that utilizes context, sequence and juxtaposition in meaningful ways.

ARTBOOK @ MoMA PS1 BOOKSTORE
22-25 Jackson Ave (at 46th Ave.)
Long Island City, NY 11101
(718) 433-1088
Email: booksmomaps1@artbook.com