a composition of 4 unique Polaroid prints including one Polaroid Type 809 print and 3 Polaroid Type 600 HS prints, matted together, credit, title, and date on the reverse, 1983 (4)

These prints are in generally excellent condition. This composition is comprised of one Polaroid Type 809 print and 3 Polaroid Type 600 HS prints. Type 809 print - There is a 5½-inch soft diagonal crease in the lower left corner of the print. 600 HS prints - In raking light, unevenness of the glossy surface is visible, typical of Polaroid processing. Also visible in raking light are a few surface scuffs.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The photographers Larry ♊Sultan and Mike Mandel, both raised in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, met as graduate students at the San Francisco Art Institute in the early 1970s.  Each was fascinated by the influence of the media upon society, and their shared fascination with visual culture led to a series of fascinating collaborations that produced work unlike anything that had come before.  The first of these began in 1973, when the two collaborated on a series of billboards that employed photography, painting, or a combination of both.  Sultan and Mandel displayed these images in the most public of spaces, on commercial roadside billboards, ensuring that they would reach a wide and varied audience.  Mike Mandel commented, 'Using the language of advertising and the expectation of billboard content we were able to create unexpected socially charged imagery informed by the context of the space.'  The four unique Polaroid prints offered here relate to the creation of a Sultan/Mandel billboard design originally erected in Mahwah, New Jersey, in 1983. 

Many of Sultan's and Mandel's billboards—such as the one pictured in the images offered here: You're So Easily Influenced—commented directly upon the nature and aims of the advertising industry.  Others were more enigmatic, such as the one featuring an illustration of a pair of hands holding flaming oranges accompanied by the bold text, Oranges on Fire.  Still others were more political, such as the billboard featuring the words Ooh La La! emblazo꧃ned over an atomic bomb's mushroom cloud. 

Sultan and Mandel would collaborate in 1977 on Evidence, a project that involved a selection of images from the photographic archives of industrial, government, anಞd new༺s organizations.  The project, and the associated book, stand today as one of the most significant post-modern assessments of the nature of the photographic medium.