Alex Prager (b. 1979) is a Los Angeles-based photographer and filmmaker. Prager’s elaborately staged scenes tap into a shared cultural memory drawing inspiration from a wide range of influences and references including Hollywood cinema, experimental films, popular culture and street photography. Her familiar yet strange images suggest a sense of timelessness while also creating a world that synthesizes fiction and reality. She has had a number of solo museum exhibitions at institutions including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2014); the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2013); SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia (2013); and the FOAM Photography Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2012). Prager was also prominently featured in New Photography 2010 at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Prager has been recognized with the FOAM Paul Huf Award (2012), among other honors. Her editorial work has been featured in prominent publications including Garage, Vogue and W, and her film series “Touch of Evil,” commissioned by The New York Times Magazine, won a 2012 Emmy Award. Prager’s work is represented in the collections of major museums including the New York’s Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden.
PRESS RELEASE
May 22-June 20, 2015
ISTANBUL’74 Galatasaray
Opening Reception: Friday, May 22, 6-8PM
ALEX PRAGER’S DEBUT IN ISTANBUL OPENS IST. FESTIVAL
Alex Prager, Crowd #5 (Washington Square West), 2013, archival pigment print, 59.5 x 72 inches (151.1 x 182.9 x 5.7 cm). Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong.
Istanbul, April 9 – ISTANBUL’74 and Lehmann Maupin will present Los Angeles-based photographer and filmmaker Alex Prager’s debut exhibition in Turkey from May 22 through June 20, 2015. While concurrently opening the fifth edition of the Istanbul International Arts & Culture Festival (IST. Festival) curated by ISTANBUL’74 in collaboration with W Magazine, this exhibition will feature a selection of existing works from Prager’s large-scale photographs as well as video work. The artist will be present for an opening reception on Friday, May 22, from 6-8PM.
Prager’s elaborately staged scenes tap into a shared cultural memory drawing inspiration from a wide range of influences and references including Hollywood cinema, experimental films, popular culture and street photography. Her familiar, yet strange, images suggest a sense of timelessness, while also creating a world that synthesizes fiction and reality. The artist is also interested in the ways in which audiences perceive and experience the pervasive cultural power of Hollywood films. These references infuse Prager’s works with a narrative quality, leading the viewer to speculate on the “before and after” of the moment and characters depicted in her images.
