LOCKDOWN
ARCHIVE
MIKE MANDEL
CHANTAL ZAKARI
2018
DROP
DEAD
GORGEOUS
2020
artist's book/photo-book
7 x 7"
100 pages plus cover
indigo press
August 2020, first edition of 100
signed and numbered $50
Eighteen Publication
this edition is sold out, a few copies are left for library purchase only
INTRODUCTION
about the second edition:
Drop Dead Gorgeous is a visual book comprised of scientific and editorial illustrations of the Covid-19 virus sourced online during April, May and June, 2020. This second edition which came out in January 2021, includes images of the vaccine promising hope for the end of the pandemic.
In the style of colorist painting, the book sequence reveals the tension between the seductive aesthetics of the picture and its deadly pandemic effect. While scientific images transform into editorial illustrations, the book gains momentum building a narrative toward a sci-fi ending. The second edition includes images of social inequities brought out by the pandemic and the discovery of vaccines.
Like photographs made of the Kennedy assassination, the Challenger disaster, and the terror of 9/11, the iconic imagery of Covid-19 collected in Drop Dead Gorgeous is informed by a world wide visual lexicon specific to this moment.
Generously supported by a faculty research fund from Tufts University.
February 2021, second edition of 100
signed and numbered
$35 special price during NYVABF
book launch at the NY Art Book Fair!
$40 starting in March
Eighteen Publication
SAMPLE PAGES
( click on a page to see it larger )
REVIEWS & INTERVIEWS
RE:PHOTOGRAPHICA
by George Slade, October, 2020
"FINE" ART PODCAST
conversation with Chantal Zakari
with host Keegan Shiner, September 22, 2020
BOSTON GLOBE
by Cate McQuaid, July 23, 2020
TUFTS NOW
How Does Art Change Our Perceptions of Covid-19
by Taylor McNeil, August 12, 2020