Alex Prager lives and works in Los Angeles, New York and London
Prager is known for her uncanny images and films that blur the line between artifice and reality to explore the human condition. Prager has spent over two decades honing her signature style, which draws on traditional movie making techniques from golden-era period styles (like film noir and Technicolor), classical mythology, and the allegorical works of Dutch Renaissance painters Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brugel. Over time, large-scale productions have become synonymous with her work.
Working simultaneously across film, photography, and sculpture, Prager constructs highly emotional moments that feel like a fabricated memory or dream. Her distinctive use of archetypes, everyday objects, humor, and allegory—along with her signature technicolor facades—allow her to explore dark and complex topics. Existential concerns are central to her practice, including collective and individual identities and the impact of technology on society. Like the psychological works of artists including Alfred Hitchcock, Edward Hopper, Pipilotti Rist, August Sanders, and Bill Viola, Prager’s work invites the viewer to contemplate the human experience by revealing that the extraordinary lurks within the ordinary.
Alex Prager 2022 Catalog, Big Valley Pictures
The Contact Sheet 2012, Ammo Books
Compulsion 2012, Michael Happen Gallery
The Big Valley Weekend 2010, M&B and Yancey Richardson Gallery
Polyester 2007, Self Published
The Book of Disquiet 2005, Porchlight Press
CLIENTS:
Hermes – Dior – Bottega Veneta – Missoni – Mercedes Benz
INSTALLATIONS:
AWARDS & GRANTS:
2012 Emmy Award (For News and Documentary) – “New Approaches to News & Documentary
2012 Programming: Arts, Lifestyle & Culture” for Touch of Evil (New York Times Magazine)
2012 Foam Paul Huf Award, Foam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2010 PDN’s 30, New and Emerging Photographers to Watch
2009 Vevey International Photography Award
2009 Lucie Award
2006 London Photographic Award
PUBLICATIONS:
Contributes to American Vogue, W magazine, New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker
“Silver Lake Drive,” Thames & Hudson, London 2018
“La Grand Sortie,” Lehmann Maupin 2016
“Face in the Crowd,” Corcoran Gallery of Art 2013
“Compulsion,” M+B Gallery 2012
“The Big Valley/Week-End,” M+B Gallery and Yancey Richardson Gallery 2010
“Polyester,” Self Published 2007
Helnwein, Mercedes. “The Book of Disquiet: Seven Deadly Sins,” Devil’s Porchlight Press 2005
PRESS:
2015 Behind the Scenes: La Grande Sortie at Paris Opera Ballet, W Magazine
2015 How Stage Fright Separates the Professional Ballerinas from the Amateurs, Vanity Fair
2015 Alex Prager, Galerie des Galeries, Paris, Aesthetica Magazine
2015 TECHNICOLOR FLASHBACKS: Interview with Alex Prager, Art Asia Pacific
2015 Exhibition: Alex Prager’s crowd photos a personal GPS, South China Morning Post
2015 Alex Prager, Lehmann Maupin, March 12–May 16, Artnet
2015 Art Talk: Qu Guangci on Alex Prager, Hong Kong Tatler
2014 Alex Prager: Crowd Control, Nowness
2014 ART BASEL, Basel, Art Agenda
2014 March 2014 Alex Prager, Art Forum
2014 Alex Prager, “Face in the Crowd”, Time Out
2014 ‘Alex Prager: Face in the Crowd’ at Lehmann Maupin, The Observer
2014 For Alex Prager, It’s Lonely in a Crowd, T Magazine
2014 Alex Prager: Not Another face in the Crowd,Opening Ceremony
2014 Alex Prager, Crowdsourced ,Interview Magazine
2013 Alex Prager Photographs The Dark Underbelly Of Crowds, Huffington Post
2013 See: Alex Prager’s Lonely, Haunting Face in the Crowd, New York Magazine
2013 Staging Reality: Alex Prager’s Timeless Faces in the Crowd ,Time Magazine
2013 50 under 50: The next most collectible Artists, Art + Auction
2012 reFramed: In conversation with Alex Prager ,Los Angeles Times
2012 Can’t Look Away Photographer Alex Prager’s high-intensity L.A. melodrama, New York Magazine
2012 April 7: L.A. Noir, W Magazine
2010 Out With The Old And In With The Old-Inspired: Fresh Photos At MoMA, NPR
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
“Part Two: Run”, Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY 2023
“Part Two: Run”, Lehmann Maupin, Palm Beach, FL 2022
“Big West”, Lotte Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea 2022
“Part One: The Mountain”, Lehmann Maupin, London, United Kingdom 2022
“Farewell, Work Holiday Parties”, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA 2020
“Play the Wind”, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, NY 2019
“Welcome Home”, Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden 2019
“Alex Prager: Silver Lake Drive”, Fondazione Sozzani Museum, Milan, Italy 2019
“Alex Prager: Silver Lake Drive”, Foam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2019
“Alex Prager: Compulsion”, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow 2019
“Alex Prager: Silver Lake Drive”, Musée des Beaux-Arts Le Locle, Switzerland 2018
“Alex Prager: Silver Lake Drive”, The Photographers’ Gallery, London Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Hong Kong 2018
“La Grande Sortie”, Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY 2016
“Alex Prager”, Galerie des Galeries, Paris 2015
“Alex Prager”, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Hong Kong 2015
“Alex Prager”, Istanbul ’74, Istanbul 2015
“Alex Prager”, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia 2014
“Alex Prager: Face in the Crowd”, The Arts Club, London, 2014
“Face in the Crowd”, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles 2014
“Face in the Crowd”, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York 2014
“Face in the Crowd”, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC 2013
“Mise-en-scène”, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA 2013
“Compulsion”, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2012
“Compulsion”, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2012
“Compulsion”, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY 2012
“Compulsion”, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, United Kingdom 2012
“Week-end”, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, United Kingdom 2010
“Week-end”, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2010
“Week-end”, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY 2010
“Despair”, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY 2010
“The Big Valley”, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY 2009
“The Big Valley”, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, England 2008
“Polyester”, Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 2007
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
“Photography: Real and Imagined”, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia 2023
“Freedom of Movement: Contemporary Art and Design from the NGV Collection”, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia 2022
“In Production: Art and the Studio System”, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China 2019
“WHAT’S UP NY”, Bettina Krieg, New York, NY 2017
“Telling Tales: Contemporary Narrative Photography”, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas 2016
“Coming into Fashion: A Century of Photography at Conde Nast”, Chanel KK, Tokyo, Japan 2016
“Open Rhapsody”, Beirut Exhibition Center, Lebanon 2015
“Not Really”, Castle Gallery, The College of New Rochelle, New York 2015
“The Noir Effect”, Skirball with Festival Images, Vevey, Switzerland 2014
“Quai No.1 in conjunction with Festival Images”, Vevey, Switzerland 2014
“The Noir Effect”, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles
“Total Art : Contemporary Video”, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C 2014
“Color ! American Photography Transformed”, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth 2013
“At the Window : The photographer’s View”, The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, Los Angeles
“Portrait of a Generation,” The Hole Gallery, New York, NY 2012
“Twisted Sisters,” DODGE Gallery, New York, NY 2012
“State of the Art – New Contemporary Photography,” NRW – Forum, Düsseldorf Germany 2012
2011 “No fashion, please: Photography between Gender and Lifestyle,” Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; “I’m Not Here,” Drake Hotel, Toronto, Canada; “Eve,” Subliminal Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, California; “Intermission,” James Cohan Gallery Shanghai, China; “Embarrassment of Riches: Picturing Global Wealth, 2000-‐2010,” Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas; “People, Places, Power: Reframing the American Landscape”, Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina
2010 “New Photography 2010”, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
2009 “Colour”, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, England, “True Self”, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York, NY
2008 “Young Curators, New Ideas”, Bond Street Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, “WeAreTheSuperlativeConspiracy”, Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, “The Good Life”, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY, Photographic Centre Northwest ion Seattle, WA, “Incognito”, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA
2007 “Untitled”, Benjaman Fink & Alex Prager, Sarah Tecchia Gallery, New York, NY, “Photo Miami”, Miami FL, “Safe + Sound”, London Institute of Fashion, London
2006 “Dolls to the Walls”, Project Gallery, Los Angeles, “Queen of the Night, Women under the Influence”, Berman/Turner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2005 “The Book of Disquiet”, Downtown Independent Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, A True Show”, White Charms Gallery, Los Angeles, “Admire the View”, ArtShare Gallery, Los Angeles
COLLECTIONS:
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul, Turkey
Fondation Carmignac Gestion, Paris, France
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH
Igal Ahouvi Art Collection, Tel Aviv, Israel
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Miami, FL
Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Lotte Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ
Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
The Sir Elton John Photography Collection, London, United Kingdom
SELECTED SCREENINGS:
Face in the Crowd, Despair, La Petite Mort, SOLUNA Festival, Dallas, TX 2015
Sunday, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami FL; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA 2014
Face in the Crowd, New Directors/New Films, Museum of Modern Art and Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York, NY; Art Unlimited, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Hollyshorts Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA; Seattle International Film Festival Black Box, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; AMFEST, Moscow, Russia; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA 2014
La Petite Mort, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
Despair, LA Film Festival, CA 2013
La Petite Mort, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY; Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, United Kingdom; M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2012
Despair, Hollyshorts Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA 2010