Alec Soth x The Last Days of W

If you've seen images at the Whitney, SF Museum of Modern Art, or Minneapolis' Walker Art Center (or the Magnum Photos archives for that matter), the shots of photographer Alec Soth may have caught your eye. The Minnesota-based artist's photos are colorful yet haunting, and his most recent frameset, shot in the days before President Obama's inauguration are no exception. "The Last Days of W" is a visual critique of the impact that the outgoing head of state had on Americans "” from mothers of Marines to religious imagery in offices. The show opened with an exhibition in Zurich and is now being featured in a self-published softcover book that serves as a celebration/requiem for President Bush, who once uttered that "one of the great things about books is, sometimes there are some fantastic pictures."Â  What else would you expect from locations like California's Camp Purgatory and Detroit before the promise of the automaker bailout?