Art: Closing Jan. 2 'From Here to There: Alec Soth's America'

From his first offhand photo shows at his pARTs Gallery studio to his current mid-career survey at Walker Art Center, Soth has retained his Minnesota nice-guy personality and work ethic. He's an international superstar with gallery and museum shows around the world and jet-setting assignments for the Paris-based photo cooperative Magnum. But his wife, kids and studio are in the Twin Cities, where he shaped his no-frills aesthetic and honed his interest in the small-town, backwater Midwestern types for which he's best known. All that simmers in the Walker's surprisingly fresh show. Even if you've followed every Soth exhibition, there's fresh material here including, most poignantly, a new "Broken Manual" series focusing on outcasts, hermits, drifters and their environs. And there are more lighthearted moments such as a portrait of Riley, a Westie belonging to art collector Dar Reedy.