L’Arme Mortelle is a spectacular photographic and cognitive derive through an unforgettable gem of late 80’s American cinema. Visuals in the volume both narrate and inform upon an assemblage of excerpts appropriated from, writer, Shane Black’s screenplay for his cop-drama titled Lethal Weapon. The subsequent film grossed $120 million dollars, served as the basis for four sequels and became a signature of 80’s masculine action pop.

L’Arme Mortelle examines tensions between commercial cinema, fine art photography and the arduously competitive world of screenwriting. In effect, the book addresses the contemporary artist’s existence in a state of media saturation.

What intellectual and physical materials become suitable for the production of fine art when advertising now permeates so many planes of culture?

The hardcover collection of 35 millimeter black and white still photographs were generated on a Minolta SLR, a Pentax K1000 and an Olympus Stylus Point-n-Shoot camera. Most of the photographs were taken by Gustaf Johnson between 2014 and 2016 while living in Boston, and traveling by car through Virginia, Tennessee, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.