Arnold Gassan 1975

"Arnold Gassan" is a black and white photograph by Mike Mandel from 1975. The image, taken from a baseball card, portrays a man with a thick beard holding a bat in front of him. The image is a straightforward presentation, the subject matter is a common image in the United States, it is a cultural artifact, and the work can be interpreted as a commentary on the ubiquity of this type of photography. Mandel's work, which often utilizes mass-produced images, investigates the ways in which photographs shape our understanding of the world.