Alec Soth, The Last Days of W.

Alec Soth

The Last Days of W.

Erstausgabe, 2008

Unbound newsprint with title printed on cover; no dust jacket as issued

Photographs by Alec Soth.
Poetry by Lester B. Morrison.
Includes a list of plates. 48 pp., with 36 four-color plates, 16-3/8 x 12 inches

From the Haunch of Venison Gallery, Zürich:

"Acclaimed American photographer Alec Soth presents an incisive pictorial statement about the final days of President George Bush. 'The Last Days of W.' features photographs that have been taken in North America over the last decade and which, in the artist's words, represent 'a panoramic look at a country exhausted by its catastrophic leadership.' 'The Last Days of W.' critiques the devastating impact of George Bush's presidency on the American people ... focus[ing] predominantly on landscapes, taking a broader 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. The [images] 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. Rather than the myth of the American Dream, these images evoke the decline of the American Empire."

From the artist:

"In assembling this collection of pictures I've made over the last eight years, I guess I'm not really trying to accomplish much at all. But as President Bush once said, 'One of the great things about books is, sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.'"