January 9 2018 | By Leanne Mirandilla for CNN
Alex Prager: The Artist Who Straddles The real And The Imagined
(Above:”Face in the Crowd” 2013 by Alex Prager. Courtesy of Alex Prager Studio and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong)
Alex Prager’s work is meticulously staged. And yet, it captures the lucid moments of humanity found only in the most candid of photography.
Having first picked up the camera at the age of 21, the Emmy-winning photographer and filmmaker’s career sprung from humble beginnings — she used to hang pictures in her apartment building’s laundry room before exhibiting her works in actual galleries.
“I saw William Eggleston’s works at the Getty, and there was never any question in my mind about what I would be doing from that point on,” she said during a phone interview. “But it took seven years before I felt like I’d hit my stride and that what I was imagining was actually getting onto paper.”
Throughout Prager’s career, her work has been defined by a recurring subject matter: people. She has been known to use up to 300 models to achieve a single shot, often bringing in a combination of friends, relatives and models found through casting agencies.
Months of planning and conceptualizing can go into a single shoot. Prager’s sets are filled with props and costumes that help bring her hyper-realistic, dramatic visions to life.
But her work hinges on the element of unpredictability that her subjects bring to the shoot — an undercurrent of emotions and personal concerns that Prager cannot control. Nor does she endeavor to.
“It’s a hard balance to strike,” she said. “I think that’s why I still get nervous before these projects — because there’s always going to be that unpredictability. I need that to make the work good.”
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