Alec Soth

"Nome, Alaska"

"West Point, New York"

"Ron, San Antonio, Texas"

How could you not love Alec Soth's recent project, The Last Days of W (currently on view at Stephen Wirtz Gallery)? The project is a compilation of photographs from the past eight years of the George W. Bush presidency. I was surprised when, in 2004, Magnum Photos accepted Soth as a member of their famous (and famously traditional) photography collective. Not because I don't believe Soth deserves it, but because Soth's photographs do not ring with that classic documentary style of the old documentarians by whom Magnum was founded. Soth's photographs are are so perfectly fraught with prophetic insight that if the viewer didn't know better, she would probably assume the photographs were planned in advance. See more of Soth's work HERE.

Also check out the newsprint publication that was published as part of The Last Days of W project. Thumbs up (of course). See it HERE. In it, he includes this poem by Lester B. Morrison:

Whether dawn or dusk,

Don Knotts or the deputy,

There is nothing left but gas

You've exhausted

You've laughed your head off

Wrapped it in black burlap

And bounced on the branch

Till sticky with candy and maché.

Now the ranch is quiet,

Brush cleared,

Fields burnt,

Almost bored.

These are the last days of W.

-Lester B. Morrison