shashasha

This bundle includes four zines published by US-based publisher Deadbeat Club on occasion of the 2023 Tokyo Art Book Fair. While the zines share the same dimensions and overall design, there are now thematic connections between them, with each zine constituting a self-contained work.

Chad Moore “Not No” 44 pages

In vibrant colors and alternating between quiet moments, raucous savagery and solemn landscapes, Chad Moore’s “Not No” forms a vivid portrait of the nightlife of America's epicurean youth - unrestrained, raw and joyous. Embracing the distorting glow of electric lights, image noise and the energy of the moment, Moore’s series captures an unfettered freedom, a euphoria of love and candor.

Yoko Ikeda “Obscura” 44 pages

In “Obscura,” Japanese photographer Yoko Ikeda looks at the everyday world with a desire to find – and frame – something playful, something interesting, something out of the ordinary. Her subjects and methods are varied and unpredictable: in “Obscura” a patch of grass, concrete tiles drying after a rain shower, a red handrail or the shadow of a bush each harbor their own kind of visual treasure, unearthed and captured in exquisite detail.

“Through her lens, Ikeda sees the marvels that are hidden all around her. And with tight framing and precise intuition, they become precious fragments of color and texture responding to each other in a delicate play of correspondences.” ― from the publisher’s description

Ian Bates “Lost Dog” 48 pages

Ian Bates’ series “Lost Dog” draws a captivating fable of the American North West as a place of strangeness and mystery, where forces and mechanisms beyond the human sphere seem to dictate the conditions of the world. With inquisitive curiosity and an understanding of the absurd, Bates follows odd scenes, such as cars toppled over or hanging in trees, without losing sight of the extraordinariness hidden within plain view, from the beautiful colors drawn by the moon or a human face illuminated by the setting sun.

“The next morning I felt that our house had been lifted away from its foundation during the night, and was now adrift, though so heavy it drew a foot or more of whatever was buoying it up, not water but something cold and thin and clear, silence riffling its surface as the house began to turn on a strengthening current, leaving, taking my wife and me with it, and though it had never occurred to me until that moment, for fifteen years our dog had held down what we had by pressing his belly to the floors, his front paws, too, and with him gone the house had begun to float out onto emptiness, no solid ground in sight.” ― Ian Bates’ foreword

Ward Long “Standstill” 48 pages

Ward Long’s series “Standstill” follows up on her 2020 photobook “Summer Sublet,” about a summer long spent living together with five women. Captured with the same sympathy, curiosity and warmth seen in “Summer Sublet,” “Standstill” features familiar scenes and situations, even though time has moved on. Friends have moved out, had children, started families.

“One day the sun didn’t rise. It sank in the wildfire smoke and stayed there. I drove into the city and sat behind a desk anyway. I didn’t know what else to do with myself.” ― from Ward Long’s afterword