Haunch of Venison Zürich to feature Photographer Alec Soth
Zurich, Switzerland - Acclaimed American photographer Alec Soth (b.1969, Minneapolis) presents an incisive pictorial statement regarding the final days of President George Bush’s administration for his first exhibition with Haunch of Venison Zürich. Entitled The Last Days of W., the exhibition features photographs that have been taken in North America during the period of the presidency. On exhibition 28 November through 17 January, 2009.
Opening shortly after the much-anticipated US election, The Last Days of W. critiques the impact of George Bush’s presidency on the American people. The exhibition will take a broad look at the social crisis and urban decay that has been Bush’s legacy. All the images have been made during Soth’s extensive travels around the United States, and picture many different milieus: West Point, Texas, Detroit, California, Alaska, West Virginia and the artist’s home in Minnesota.
Of the 31 photographs, a number are entirely new, some have been taken from past series, and others derive from assignments that Soth has undertaken for various print media. The selection will reflect the scope of the stories that have captured Soth’s imagination during President Bush’s two terms in office: stories about mothers of Marines serving in Iraq, religion in the American workplace, the biggest landfill in America and the mortgage crisis in Stockton, California. Brought together for the first time, they constitute a ‘celebration/ requiem for the Bush era’.
A newspaper, conceived and published by Soth, accompanies the photographs in the exhibition and complements their socio-political commentary. Soth concludes: ‘In assembling this collection of pictures I’vemade over the last eight years, I guess I’m not really trying to accomplish muchat all. But as President Bush once said, “One of the great things about books is, sometimes there are some fantastic pictures”.’
For further information visit Haunch of Venison Zürich at : www.haunchofvenison.com