Skip to content

Alex Prager

LOTTE Museum of Art

Seoul

Feb 28–Jun 6, 2022

Photograph by Alex Prager

Seoul

The LOTTE Museum of Art brings you Alex Prager (b. 1979), an artist who captures Hollywood's colors and subtle emotions with her camera lens. This exhibition is the first time viewers will have a chance to see Prager in Korea, showcasing a comprehensive body of work of more than one hundred photographs and videos encompassing everything from her early works to her recent releases. Prager's work is like a scene from a classic movie, possibly from being greatly inspired by mass culture and the film industry as an artist born and raised in Los Angeles. Through its distinct hues and her mysterious image working, the moment she freezes on film sparks viewers' imaginations, portraying in detail the internal emotions embedded in that split second. With intricate mise-en-scène that articulates the inner-workings of a person, this exhibition will present unforgettable cinematic moments to viewers through which they can experience the rawest human emotions.

Installation view of Alex Prager at Lotte Museum of Art
Installation Views
1 of 5:
Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Yellow Pages, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

ABC Theater, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Mezzanine West, 2016

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Turnstile, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Eclipse, 2021

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Starlight, 2021

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Afternoon, 2021

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

High Noon, 2021

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Marilyn, 2010

Installation view of Alex Prager at Lotte Museum of Art
Installation Views
1 of 5:
Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Emily, 2007

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Face in the Crowd Film Strip #2, 2013

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Face in the Crowd Film Strip #3, 2013

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Lenscrafters, Ace American Insurance, 2015

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

See’s Candies, Payless, Supercuts 2, 2015

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Shopping Plaza 1, 2015

Portrait of Alex Prager

Alex Prager (b. 1979, Los Angeles, CA; lives and works in Los Angeles, CA) is an American artist, director and screenwriter based in Los Angeles. Prager is known for her uncanny images and films that blur the line between artifice and reality to explore the human condition. Prager has spent over two decades honing her signature style, which draws on traditional movie making techniques from golden-era period styles (like film noir and Technicolor), classical mythology, and the allegorical works of Dutch Renaissance painters Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brugel. Over time, large-scale productions have become synonymous with her work.

Working simultaneously across film, photography, and sculpture, Prager constructs highly emotional moments that feel like a fabricated memory or dream. Her distinctive use of archetypes, everyday objects, humor, and allegory—along with her signature technicolor facades—allow her to explore dark and complex topics. Existential concerns are central to her practice, including collective and individual identities and the impact of technology on society. Like the psychological works of artists including Alfred Hitchcock, Edward Hopper, Pipilotti Rist, August Sanders, and Bill Viola, Prager’s work invites the viewer to contemplate the human experience by revealing that the extraordinary lurks within the ordinary.

Big West | Lehmann Maupin