Alex Prager

Alex Prager, Susie and Friends, from the series THE BIG VALLEY, 2008

A multi-displicnary pool of sources (music, cinema, and art in its widest context) encapsulates Alex Prager's vision to create work that provokes emotional impact. A cinematic aesthetic may not necessarily unfold in size but Prager's photography is certainly lavish, wholly unnerving and marred by an idiosyncratic allure. A self taught photographer, raised in Los Feliz, she takes her cues from drama, melo drama, silent movies and the cinematic conventions of Hollywood artisans such as Douglas Sirk and Alfred Hitchcock. I find it hard to define or categorise Prager within a commercial or artistic sphere of photography as she seems to readily dapple in both and hones focus on the brief or project and its potential to guide an explosive result. Her recent collaboration with Bottega Veneta (she shot their SS11 campaign) demonstrates exactly how her playful and provocative point of view can permeate a commercial client's way of thinking and result in hyper-real imagery with all the dream-oddessy imaginings of Prager's artistic statergy but also the energy, aesthetic and sophistication of a luxury fashion house.

Bottega Veneta SS11 campaign starring Karolina Kurkova

Beyond her high-profile editorials and commercial commissions, are her forays into film or what she calls 'moving pictures'. Her latest is La Petite Mort - a six minute film short loaded with a psychologically charged intensity and marred by her dream-like awe. I think what I like most about her work is the complexity; beyond the luridly beautiful and digitally manipulated aesthetic make-up is a mystery, an intrigue, and a darkness waiting to be stifled. If I could commission someone to design my dreams or to decorate my reality, Prager would be on call.

Alex Prager, Eve, from the series THE BIG VALLEY, 2008

Rachel and Friends, © Alex Prager courtesy Michael Hoppen Contemporary

I've spent a good part of the past hour indulging in her archive of work and I'm very psyched that some of her most recent work will be on view in London as part of 'Compulsion' - her latest exhibition at Michael Hoppen Gallery.