Alex Prager lives and works in New York, Los Angeles and London
Prager creates images of things that never happened, a world that never was, but at the same time is very familiar – we have been here before. Prager is among four photographers to be featured in “New Photography 2010”, opening in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Taking aesthetic cues from film, fashion photography, and the world of pulp fiction, Prager constructs darkly playful cinematic moments, charged with melodramatic glamour. Her heroines are timeless women on the verge. “The construction of the images is intentionally loaded” says MoMA curator Roxana Marcoci. “It reminds me of silent movies – there is something pregnant, about to happen, a mix of desire and angst.”
Her most recent solo show entitled “Week-end” opened in Los Angeles, New York, London and Japan in 2010
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,” Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA 2017
“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
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
“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
Des Moines Art Center, Iowa 2017
“La Grande Sortie”, Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY 2016
Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis 2015
Galerie des Galeries, Paris 2015
Lehmann Maupin Gallery, Hong Kong 2015
Istanbul ’74, Istanbul 2015
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia 2014
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
2012 FOAM Paul Huf Award 2012, FOAM, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; “Compulsion,” Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York; “Compulsion,” Michael Hoppen Gallery, London; “Compulsion,” M+B Gallery, Los Angeles
2010 “Week-end”, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, England, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY
2009 “The Big Valley”, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY
2008 “The Big Valley”, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, England
2007 “Polyester”, Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Telling Tales: Contemporary Narrative Photography, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas 2015
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
2012 “Portrait of a Generation,” The Hole Gallery, New York, NY; “Twisted Sisters,” DODGE Gallery, New York, NY; “State of the Art – New Contemporary Photography,” NRW – Forum, Düsseldorf
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:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia
FILMOGRAPHY:
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
Photography & Moving Image