Alec Soth’s intoxicating photographic chronicles of Middle America
![Broken Manual](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4C6dE64efDbo2hzno84NHk-415-80.jpg)
‘If we hadn’t our bewitching autumn foliage,’ wrote Mark Twain, ‘we should still have to credit the weather with one feature which compensates for all its bullying vagaries – the ice storm: when a leafless tree is clothed with ice from the bottom to the top – ice that is as bright and clear as crystal; when every bough and twig is strung with ice-beads, frozen dew-drops, and the whole tree sparkles cold and white, like the Shah of Persia’s diamond plume.’
It’s Twain, the father of modern American literature, that springs to mind when perusing Alec Soth’s photographs, often set against austere landscapes or interiors in middle America. Widely lauded as one of the leading contemporary photographers working today, the Minnesotan artist chronicles American life with the same prodigious dexterity as his literary counterpart.
And as October’s trees ripen with amber, it’s only apt that Soth would unveil a poignant new show, entitled ‘Gathered Leaves’. Hosted at the Science Museum’s Media Space gallery, Soth’s first major outing in the UK brings together four different bodies of work – Sleeping by the Mississippi (2004), Niagara (2006), Broken Manual (2010) and Songbook (2014) – just don’t call it a retrospective, Soth says.
The artist’s earliest project on display, Sleeping by the Mississippi, evokes the ‘spirit of Huckleberry Finn’, the namesake character of Twain’s titular masterwork. Set against a bleak rural landscape, one image depicts a bespectacled man in olive-green workman’s clothes clutching a pair of model airplanes, a nod to iconic American aviator Charles Lindbergh. And then there’s a serene shot of a wayward mattress caught in reeds – Helena (2002) - which Soth likens to Finn’s raft.
Niagara, meanwhile, is ‘lyric typology’ according to Soth. It was an especially dark and challenging project for the artist, who encountered issues with the police and on the border. But Soth’s unique brand of visual repartee is inherent in the body of work he has dubbed a 'penis project' (referring to the waterfalls and the rhyming link between Niagara and Viagra).
His most recent project, Songbook, saw the artist travel across America on assignment for various international publications, attending hundreds of meetings, dances, festivals and communal gatherings, compiling a visual catalogue of human interaction in the age of virtual social networks.
But perhaps it’s Broken Manual that shines as Soth’s most intriguing series. Shot between 2006-2010, it marked an important departure from his previous photo books. Turning his lens on monks, survivalists, hermits and runaways, Soth teamed up writer Lester B Morrison to create an instruction manual for escapists.
The 'idea is its a manual for men to run away from their lives with' – but 'the manual is broken', says Soth ominously. A mixture of black-and-white and colour photographs with enlarged details and diagrams, Broken Manual includes a particularly alluring photograph of a solitary male figure – ‘the leprechaun man’ – seemingly asleep on a moss-covered tree trunk, encircled by a halo of brown leaves.
Soth captures his subjects in the lonely expanse of America’s social landscape using a large format camera. It’s a slow and patient process – but ultimately rewarding as his prints reveal a medley of detail and colour not afforded by digital cameras.
Peppered throughout the exhibition are vitrines filled with his books, zines, maquettes, and excerpts from his self-published Tumblr, The LBM Dispatch (‘an irregularly published newspaper of the North American ramblings’ created in collaboration with writer Brad Zellar).
It’s Soth’s momentous photographic prints that are most dazzling. Whether by happenstance or grand design, his images are imbued with an unmistakable Twain-esque lyricism – folding social commentary, razor-sharp wit and a compelling narrative into breathtakingly rendered photographs.
‘It stands there the acme, the climax, the supremest possibility in art or nature, of bewildering, intoxicating, intolerable magnificence,’ Twain waxed lyrical about the flux of seasons. But had he been alive today, he might just as easily been describing Soth’s photographs.
Installation view of American photographer Alec Soth's first solo UK exhibition, launched at the Science Museum's Media Space gallery in London. Courtesy of the Science Museum
Two Towels, 2004, from 'Niagara'.
Melissa, 2005, from 'Niagara'.
Cadillac Motel, 2005, from 'Niagara'.
Soth’s first major outing in the UK brings together four different bodies of work – 'Sleeping by the Mississippi' (2004), 'Niagara' (2006), 'Broken Manual' (2010) and 'Songbook' (2014).Courtesy of the Science Museum
Crazy Legs Saloon. Watertown, New York, from 'Songbook'.
Near Kaaterskill Falls, New York, from 'Songbook'.
Bree. Liberty Cheer All-Stars. Corsicana, Texas, 2013, from 'Songbook'.
Charles, Vasa, Minnesota, 2002, from 'Sleeping by the Mississippi'.
Peppered throughout the exhibition are vitrines filled with his books, zines, maquettes, and excerpts from Soth's self-published Tumblr. Courtesy of the Science Museum
Dave and Trish. Denver, Colorado, 2014, from 'Songbook'.
Bil. Sandusky, Ohio, 2014, from 'Songbook'.
Adelyn, Ash Wednesday, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2000, from 'Sleeping by the Mississippi'.
Near San Antonio, Texas, from 'Songbook'.
INFORMATION
‘Gathered Leaves: Photographs by Alec Soth’ is on view until 28 March. For more information, visit the Science Museum website
ADDRESS
Media Space
Science Museum
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2DD
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
This Nova Lima apartment is a Brazilian family oasis with striking Minas Gerais views
A Nova Lima apartment designed by Jacobsen Arquitetura celebrates its long, natural Minas Gerais vistas
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Mental health, motherhood and class’: Hannah Perry’s dynamic installation at Baltic
Hannah Perry's exhibition ’Manual Labour’ is on show at Baltic in Gateshead, UK, a five-part installation drawing parallels between motherhood and factory work
By Emily Steer Published
-
Francis Alÿs plots child play around the world at the Barbican
In Francis Alÿs' exhibition ‘Ricochets’ at London’s Barbican, the artist explores the universality of play, even in challenging situations
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
At Glastonbury’s Shangri-La, activism and innovation meet
Glastonbury’s south-east corner is known for its after-dark entertainment but by day, there is a different story to tell
By Rhian Daly Published
-
‘I am almost an anti-sculptor’: Dominique White on her Whitechapel Max Mara Art Prize show
The artist mines the ocean to explore Afrofuturism in ‘Deadweight’, opening at London’s Whitechapel and detailed in a new film
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Remembering Rusty Egan's Blitz Club: a place to 'avoid the mob and the homophobes', where the New Romantics were born
As he releases new vinyl boxset, 'Blitzed!', Wallpaper* meets DJ Rusty Egan to talk about London's scene-building Blitz club – the antidote to the late 70s punk scene and a hot-bed of experimental fashion
By Craig McLean Published
-
Suzannah Pettigrew's 'tender and ghostly' new show at Surrealist photographer Lee Miller's former home in East Sussex
London-based artist Suzannah Pettigrew's photographic stills create a snapshot of her Sussex coast childhood, conjuring up a hallucinatory world of memory
By Mary Cleary Published
-
The body, pleasure and play: Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland united in London
Tom of Finland’s homoeroticism meets Beryl Cook’s female-oriented camp as Studio Voltaire unites work by the two artists in a London exhibition
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Zanele Muholi celebrates South Africa’s Black LGBTI communities in LA and London
Zanele Muholi's portraits and sculptures are currently on show at Southern Guild Los Angeles and the Tate Modern, London
By Hannah Silver Published