In 2004, photographer Alec Soth released "Sleeping by the Mississippi" -- a visual chronicle of the deadened landscapes and rooted lives found within that giant, overlooked mass of Southern and Midwestern America: aspiring preachers, mother/daughter prostitutes, faded religious iconography, and a population that appeared to be blindly reaching for one final grasp of God as their savior.

Soth returned in 2007 with "Dog Days, Bogota" -- a collection of images taken while in Colombia adopting a baby girl. Scenes filled with stray dogs, teenage parents, broken-down cars and armed forces, we're shown a hardened world, though not without momentary glimpses of hope.

And now, Gagosian Gallery is exhibiting Soth's "The Last Days of W." Taken between 2000 and 2008, Soth presents to us an America very much exhausted -- a worn, misled country that is just now beginning to absorb the scope of damage done. Through empty gazes of disillusioned soldiers, abandoned hotel rooms and pawnshop facades, Soth's latest work embodies that intangible sense of renewal that so many are struggling right now to feel.

Outlining what's shaping up to be a busy gallery season in NYC, Soth recommends some shows that-– besides his own-– will leave an indelible impression on the viewer:

Paul Graham, "Photographs 1981 -- 2006" at Greenberg Van Doren Gallery: March 18th - May 2nd
The UK-bred, NYC-based photographer credited with being one of the originals merging the sociopolitical edge of British documentary photography with contemporary color work will be honored with a decade-spanning exhibition. Whether you prefer being pulled down to earth with Graham's sobering images of unemployment offices -- taken from his '84-'85 body Beyond Caring -- or entering the ethereal with his blown-out daytime suburban landscapes from the '98-'02 work American Night, this show is a guaranteed epic.

Andrew Bush, "Vector Portraits" at Yossi Milo Gallery: April 23–June 6
L.A.'s own brings us a work comprised almost exclusively of photographs taken while driving 70mph in Southern CA and the southwest between '89 - '97. Moments of high-speed transit, seemingly frozen, reveal that passive expression and the accompanying state of mind we often take while barreling down the road from Point A to Point B.

Candice Breitz, "Him & Her" at Yvon-Lambert Gallery: February 19 -- March 21st
The Berlin-based video artist brings us "Him & Her" -- a multimedia montage spread over 50 plasma screens starring (sort of) Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. Breitz has extracted scenes of 23 Nicholson and 28 Streep performances, and blended them into one continuous, looped conversation with themselves. It’s a Hollywood-induced, schizophrenic fever dream exploring the strange, unquestioned phenomenon of the celebrity, and the identities they seamlessly switch to from one moment to the next.

Andrea Zittel, "single strand, forward motion" at Andrea Rosen Gallery: February 6 -- March 7th
The famed American installation artist who once explored total isolation while living on a concrete island anchored to the coast of Denmark, now returns for her ninth exhibit at Andrea Rosen. Wall drawings, black paintings and loose ephemera tethered to a huge hook-based installation, Zittel continues her ongoing fascination with everyday functional tools serving as fleeting glances into her own (and our) subconscious.

Francis Bacon, "A Centenary Retrospective" at The Met: May 20 -- August 16
This spring, The Met will be the only venue in the U.S. to host what will surely be one of the most comprehensive Francis Bacon exhibits ever assembled. (Yes, the same Francis Bacon whose Triptych 1976 sold at Sotheby's for $86 million.) Combining the famous and the obscure with a strong penchant for the grotesque, A Centenary Retrospective will display more than 150 of Bacon's paintings, drawings and archived works. A vital chance to see some of the most psychologically nightmarish imagery ever set to canvas.

Alec Soth is represented by the Gagosian Gallery in NYC, the Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis and is a member of Magnum Photos.

~Ben Zoltowski