Fallon Williams: Monday entry (for 11/9/09): Artist of interest: Alex Prager

Alex Prager is an American contemporary self-taught photographer. She was born in Los Angeles, California in 1979 and raised by her grandmother. Prager experienced a nomadic upbringing, which found her living in California, Florida and Switzerland. Prager began to seriously pursue photography in her early twenties after becoming a fan of William Eggleston's work. She forewent art school due to having never stayed in one place long enough to pursue a college education and taught herself the technical aspects of photography and lighting through trial and error. While producing and exhibiting her own body of works, she contributed to such magazines as Details, i-D, Elle Japan, Tank, MOJO and Complex. She released her first book The Book of Disquiet in 2005, which led to her first solo show, Polyester, at the Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica, California in 2007. Her next exhibition, The Big Valley, was shown in 2008 at the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London, England and received critical acclaim. London Times magazine said, “That she has buckets more vision than credentials matters not, it helps to retain the rawness and individuality of her eye. She is uncertain and dizzy – and very capable.”

Women figure primarily in Prager's work, all donned in 60s inspired wigs and clothing in the staged tableauxs that Prager creates. Her work has a retro flair with a modern execution. Her series Polyester, The Big Valley and her most recent body of work Week-end all capture the vulnerable side of women who happen to be trapped in their own private hell and are on the verge of giving up or already have. Prager, who currently lives in LA, has explained, "I’m documenting a world that exists and doesn’t exist at the same time; the world in which these girls live in is made up, but the illusion they’ve created is so constant that it became more real to them than the world they actually live in. That’s L.A. for you!"

Prager's official website.

Interview with Prager by Juxtapoz magazine.

Prager's newest body of work, Week-end, will be exhibited at M+B Gallery in West Hollywood, California on January 30, 2010.