Songbook

December 16, 2014 – Sean Kelly is pleased to announce Songbook, an exhibition of over twenty-five new, monumental black and white photographs by Alec Soth. This will be the Minnesota based artist’s first solo exhibition in New York since Broken Manual in 2012 and his first exhibition in the gallery’s new space. An opening reception will take place on Thursday, January 29 from 6:00 to 8:00pm, the artist will be present. On Saturday, January 31, from 3:00 to 6:00pm, the gallery will host a book signing with Soth and copies of his new publication, Songbook, will be available for purchase.

Known for his haunting portraits of solitary Americans in Sleeping by the Mississippi and Broken Manual, Alec Soth has recently turned his lens toward community life in the United States. To aid in his search, Soth, accompanied by his friend the writer Brad Zeller, assumed the increasingly obsolescent role of small-town newspaper reporter. From 2012-2014, Soth traveled state by state whilst working on his self-published newspaper, The LBM Dispatch, as well as on assignment for The New York Times and other organizations. From upstate New York to Silicon Valley, Soth attended hundreds of meetings, dances, festivals and communal gatherings in search of authentic human interaction in an era of widespread virtual social networking. With Songbook, Soth has stripped these pictures of their news context in order to highlight the longing for personal connection at their root. Evocative, fragmentary, funny and sad, the work is a lyrical depiction of the tension between American individualism and the desire to be united. Songbookpresents a profound exploration of the shifting landscape of early 21st century American culture. 

The exhibition will have three concurrent presentations, each with slight content variations. The first exhibition will open at Sean Kelly, NY on January 30, followed by openings at Fraenkel Gallery, in San Francisco, on February 5 and Weinstein Gallery, in Minneapolis, on February 20.