Press Release  March 22, 2019  Chandra Noyes

"A Room for Solace": Alec Soth Brings Intimacy to the Photography Show

Copyright Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Courtesy L. Parker Stephenson Photographs

Sirkka Liisa Konttinen, Emma Dowds (Step by Step series), 1982. Gelatin silver print, printed by the artist 2016.

Photography can be a powerful tool in the right hands. It can document history as it happens, and before we fully understand it; it can show us aspects of ourselves and others that we were previously oblivious to; and it can reveal details of the world around us that aren’t apparent to the naked eye. Minnesota-based photographer Alec Soth has made a career out of revealing these truths, chronicling American lives and realities with unflinching honesty. For a new exhibition at the upcoming AIPAD 2019 Photography Show, Soth turns his curatorial eye to another universal truth: the comforts of home. A Room for Solace brings together over 40 images from across the history of photography. The images of interiors vary widely, but all have a quiet, intimacy in common, a theme that Soth has recently turned to in his own work. In the face of a tumultuous world, Soth chooses to, “take a break from the fractious public square of photography and wander quietly into people’s homes. Behind these doors I hope to find a sliver of solace in these unstable times.” These images pay tribute to the soothing power of life’s simple joys: the sanctuary we find in our homes and intimate relationships.

Laura Letinsky, Untitled #38 from the series Hardly More Than Ever, 2001
© Laura Letinsky. Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery. 

Laura Letinsky, Untitled #38 from the series Hardly More Than Ever, 2001. Chromogenic Print. Edition: 5 of 15.

Yancey Richardson Gallery

Nancy Rexroth, Sweater, Pomeroy, Ohio, 1970
WEINSTEIN HAMMONS GALLERY

Nancy Rexroth, Sweater, Pomeroy, Ohio, 1970. Vintage gelatin silver print.

Weinstein Hammons Gallery

Unknown Photographer, Interior of an American Home, circa 1900.
RICHARD MOORE PHOTOGRAPHS

Unknown Photographer, Interior of an American Home, circa 1900. Vintage silver print.

Richard Moore Photographs

Chris Verene (b. 1969, Galesburg, Illinois), Untitled – from Galesburg series, 1994.
PDNB GALLERY

Chris Verene (b. 1969, Galesburg, Illinois), Untitled – from Galesburg series, 1994. "Grandpa and I went to visit his friend, Turney, at the Millionaire's Rest Home. They used to work on the railroad together." Edition 4/20 (edition size later reduced to 6).

PDNB Gallery

Walker Evans, Kitchen in Floyd Burroughs’s Home, Hale County, Alabama, 1936
LEE GALLERY

Walker Evans, Kitchen in Floyd Burroughs’s Home, Hale County, Alabama, 1936. Silver print, ca. 1936

Lee Gallery, Inc.

René Magritte / Paul Nougé, Intérieur de Paul Nougé, en arriere plan "Portrait de Paul Nougé" (1927), c. 1928
© René Magritte, Courtesy Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York

René Magritte / Paul Nougé, Intérieur de Paul Nougé, en arriere plan "Portrait de Paul Nougé" (1927), c. 1928. Gelatin silver print.

Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York

Danny Lyon (b. 1942), The Copa Club, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 1983
Copyright Danny Lyon

Danny Lyon (b. 1942), The Copa Club, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 1983. Vintage gelatin silver print; printed 1984.

Gitterman Gallery

Sirkka Liisa Konttinen, Emma Dowds (Step by Step series), 1982.
Copyright Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Courtesy L. Parker Stephenson Photographs

Sirkka Liisa Konttinen, Emma Dowds (Step by Step series), 1982. Gelatin silver print, printed by the artist 2016.

L. Parker Stephenson Photographs

Harry Callahan, Eleanor and Barbara, Chicago, 1954. Gelatin silver print.
©️The Estate of Harry Callahan, courtesy Etherton Gallery, Tucson

Harry Callahan, Eleanor and Barbara, Chicago, 1954. Gelatin silver print.

Etherton Gallery

About the Author

Chandra Noyes

Chandra Noyes is the former Managing Editor for Art & Object.

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