Favourite Fridays - Alex Prager
Favourite Fridays - Alex Prager
Alex Prager is a self taught photographer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her photographs use staged actors, models and extras to create meticulously and perfectly designed mise en scène, often described as film-like and 'hyperreal'. Prager’s work expands the fictive realities of her images, touching upon themes of alienation and the surreal side of life.
Prager's work breathes the aesthetics of mid-twentieth century Americana cinema, each of her images seemingly simulating a film still. She creates a world entirely constructed, brimming with emotion and melodrama.
Taking inspiration from the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel and David Lynch, Prager makes use of dramatic theatrical lighting to create a beautifully crafted melodramatic world of mystery. The dreary compositions are harmonised perfectly by the striking tones of the vintage attire her subjects wear. By using colours like this Prager seamlessly creates a ‘separation of reality,’ conjuring both a mood and an era defined by unrest that lies just below seemingly perfect surfaces.
"Eve" from The Big Valley (2008)
Prager's earliest listed work is photography series "The Big Valley", published in 2008. Riddled with filmic references, photos in this series can be viewed as direct homages to Alfred Hitchcock. In 'Eve' (see left) for example, Hitchcock’s 1963 classic The Birds is immediately recalled upon seeing the panicked female swarmed by a flock of pigeons. The women in cast in these images are also archetypal ‘blondes’ – again calling to mind the aesthetic of Hitchcock’s leading ladies, such as Kim Novak, Janet Leigh and Tippi Hedren.
The title and mood throughout the series pulls from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, which is home to many of Hollywood’s major movie studios. It is also known as a place of despair, failed dreams and broken souls which underlie throughout Prager's work. The title of the series is due to, describes Prager, the dark evocations raised by the definition of the word ‘valley’ as 'any place, period, or situation that is filled with fear, gloom, foreboding or the like’.
"Maggie" from Week-end (2012)
In 2010, Prager released her second series titled "Week-End". Drawing on similar topics as "The Big Valley" this series is seemingly set in Los Angeles with its bright sunny backdrop, although in this series things seem to be getting a touch more surreal. This follows similar themes as David Lynch's 'Mulholland Drive' and 'Inland Empire' wherein Hollywood is depicted as glamorous but we can't help but get a feeling that something dark and mysterious is lurking underneath the surface.
Prager describes the themes behind the series :
I saw a theme of apathy and impending death running through these pictures – the death of dreams. Originally, I was going to call it, Weekend, without the hyphen, but by adding the hyphen, it emphasizes the word, ‘end,’ so it could also mean, ‘Weak End.’ That adds a layer of comedy to it which I like.
It was in 2010 when Prager created her first short film "Despair", starring Bryce Dallas Howard, about a woman who is seen reacting to a distressing phone call who goes on to jump out of a tall apartment complex window and landing on the ground as the pair of red shoes she was seen wearing earlier. The film takes inspiration from the 1948 Powell and Pressburger film "The Red Shoes" where, just as in Despair, the heroine jumps from an apartment window and leaves behind her red ballet shoes.
The films aesthetic carries over Prager's style seen in her previous works as she appears to expand on the possible stories her photographs could be telling us.
"3:32 PM, Coldwater Canyon and Eye #5 (Automobile Accident)" from Compulsion (2012)
The dark surrealist view on LA, which Prager cultivates in her earlier photographic compositions comes to a blistering climax in her series 'Compulsion' in 2012. Each set of images presents a scene inspired by sensationalised media reports of accidents and tragedies, that portray often comical, mostly dark looking images that you would expect to see in film. A woman clings to the front of a car teetering over a precipice; a car almost fully submerged in the freeway – each alongside a detailed shot of a human eye, exaggerating the detail, be it bloodshot veins or clumped mascara. Each title recall those of police reports, referencing a time and place. When paired together, the images force a play of gazes as we look at the scene and observe the observers.
This is my personal favourite series from Prager and cements her as one of my firm favourites when it comes to photographers and artists in general. The surrealism paired with the retro hollywood feel to the photos connects immediately with references to film and the darkness that lies beneath beauty. Prager's work elicits feelings of the unknown within the viewer, raising questions about the subjects and the stories behind the images that is left to interpretation, much like works of aforementioned David Lynch.
"Crowd #9 (Sunset Five)" from Face in the Crowd (2013)
Prager’s most recent series is 'Face in the Crowd' from 2013. The works within this series are based around being lost around a large group of people. It studies the intimacy and freedom individuals can experience when being enveloped within a crowd but it also touches upon the feelings of claustrophobia and insignificance being in the same situation can bring.
Along with the photographs in this series there is a short film accompanying. The film resonates the message Prager delivers in her photographs. to consider individual and collective emotions in a crowd situation. The film commences with a series of monologues, a mixture of personal stories that range from the significant and highly emotional to the mundane. Suddenly the individual figures are flooded by a sea of people and a crowd forms. The attention is drawn on one woman, played by Elizabeth Banks, instead of the unfocused look achieved in the photographs. As she moves in and out of the crowd, she appears both contained and separate from it. Going from being on the brink of being overwhelmed, to the tension fading as she leaves the scene.
Although the photographs and film were made on elaborate sets, they reflect specific situations and places where Prager found herself: Washington Square Park in New York, beaches, train stations, movie theatres and airports. She describes how her interest in the subject came from travelling and the particular experience of negotiating crowded situations:
"Going through airport terminals, subways, living in London and New York for a while. Being from Los Angeles … you aren’t often thrown into situations where you’re surrounded by strangers. You’re usually in the car or around people you know. I felt like I saw crowds a bit differently than other people; it was a bit jarring."
Pictures from this series become reminiscent of a "Wheres Wally?" book, allowing each individual viewing the work to explore what they really connect with when they see the image. There is no specific subject that the images focus on, this really allows the viewer to get lost in the crowd themselves.
Still from "Despair" (2010)
The reality of Alex Prager's work is not clear, details of compositions tell us everything and nothing at once. The clothes, hair and general aesthetic hint at a bygone era, and yet the period remain as uncertain as the story behind each image. The glamour and beauty of her work are what initially pull you in but you'll find yourself staying fascinated by the surreal mystery behind it all.
See more of Alex Pragers work
Quotes referenced from http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/ebooks/alex-prager/index.php
Pictures from http://www.alexprager.com