Alec Soth’s work is rooted in the distinctly American tradition of ‘on-the-road photography’ developed by Walker Evans, Robert Frank and Stephen Shore. From Huckleberry Finn to Easy Rider there seems to be a uniquely American desire to travel and chronicle the adventures that consequently ensue. He has received fellowships from the McKnight, Bush, and Jerome Foundations and was the recipient of the 2003 Santa Fe Prize for Photography. His photographs are represented in major public and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Walker Art Center. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney Biennial and a career survey at the Jeu de Paume in 2008.
His first monograph, Sleeping by the Mississippi, was published by Steidl in 2004 to critical acclaim. Since then Soth has published NIAGARA (Steidl, 2006), Fashion Magazine (Magnum, 2007), Dog Days, Bogotá (Steidl, 2007), The Last Days of W (Little Brown Mushroom, 2008), and Broken Manual (Steidl, 2010). In 2008, Soth started his own publishing company, Little Brown Mushroom. He is represented by the Sean Kelly Gallery in New York and the Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis. Alec Soth became a nominee of Magnum Photos in 2004 and a full member in 2008. He is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Education
1992 Bachelor of Arts, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, USA
Awards
2008 Bush Artist Fellowship
2008 PhotoVision Award
2006 Golden Light Book Award
2006 Deutsche Börse Prize (shortlisted artist)
2004 McKnight Photography Fellowship
2003 Santa Fe Prize for Photography
2001 Minnesota State Arts Board
2001 MCAD / Jerome Fellowship
2001 Jerome Travel and Study Grant
1999 McKnight Photography Fellowship
Exhibitions
2012 Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, USA
2011 Rome Interational Photography Festival, Rome, Italy
2010 Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
2010 Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy
2009 Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA
2009 I M ART, Seoul, Korea
2009 Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, USA
2009 Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2008 Haunch of Venison, Zurich, Switzerland
2008 Fotomuseum, Winterthur, Switzerland
2008 Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
2008 Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA
2007 Host Gallery, London, UK
2007 Power House, Memphis, USA
2006 Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA
2006 Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, USA
2005 Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA
2004 Open Eye, Liverpool, UK
2004 Wohnmaschine, Berlin, Germany
2004 Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis, USA
2004 Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2004 Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, USA
2003 Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
2003 Weitman Gallery of Photography, Washington University, St. Louis, USA
Collections
Albright-Knox Gallery of Art, Buffalo, NY
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA
Israel Museum of Contemporary Art, Jerusalem, Israel
LA County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, USA
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, USA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
Books
2012 Ohio, Little Brown Mushroom, USA
2012 House of Coates, Little Brown Mushroom, USA
2011 Postcards from America, Magnum, USA
2011 The Auckland Project, Radius Books, USA
2011 Core Collections: Writings on Photography, Aperture, USA
2010 Broken Manual, Steidl, USA
2010 From Here to There: Alec Soth’s America, Walker Art Center and Engberg, USA
2010 Brighton Picture Hunt, Photoworks, USA
2008 The Last Days of W, Little Brown Mushroom, USA
2007 Dog Days, Bogotá, Steidl, Germany
2007 Fashion Magazine, Magnum, Paris
2006 Niagara, Steidl, Germany
2005 The Making of Parts, photo essay Granta, issue 89
2004 Sleeping by the Mississippi, Steidl, Germany
2002 Vantage Points: Campus as Place (with Beth Dow and Chris Faust),Carleton College Press, Northfield, USA
1997 Linked to the Future: Minneapolis and St. Paul, (6 b/w plates), Towery Publishing, USA