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Alex Prager

Play the Wind

New York

Sep 5–Oct 26, 2019

Installation view of Alex Prager at Lehmann Maupin New York

536 West 22nd Street

New York, NY 10011

Lehmann Maupin is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work, including a new film, Play the Wind (2019; 8 minutes), by Alex Prager. Well established for her genre-defying approach to image making that timelessly combines eras, cultural references, and personal experiences, the photographs and the film debuted in this exhibition are a fresh reflection on Prager’s place of origin, site of inspiration, and frequent character—the city of Los Angeles. The world premiere of Play the Wind on Thursday, September 5, will include an opening reception for the artist at 536 West 22nd Street.

Prager’s contemporary take on the modernist tradition of anthropomorphizing a city, from Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Paris, to James Joyce’s Dublin, to Keith Haring’s New York City, arises from the artist’s recent professional and personal transformation. Having passed a major career milestone—the publishing of her first monograph, Silver Lake Drive (2018, Chronicle Books), and a mid-career retrospective of the same title—Prager spent time reflecting on her beginnings as a photographer and her transition to film directing. In addition, the birth of her first child in the city where she too was born and has lived most of her life contributed to an uncanny nostalgia for the artist that psychologically pulled her into the past while simultaneously beckoning her toward the future. Creating a film that could contain these seemingly contradictory impulses became the impetus for this new body of work.

Installation view of Alex Prager at Lehmann Maupin New York
Installation Views: 1 of 5
Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Silver Screen, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Rancho Mirage (Lois), 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Yellow Pages, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Far, Far Away, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Bronze Sunset, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Turnstile, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Shadows, 2019

Installation view of Alex Prager at Lehmann Maupin New York
Installation Views: 1 of 4
Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Big Valley, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

ABC Theater, 2019

Film by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Play The Wind, 2019

Sculpture by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Big West, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Western Frontier, 2019

Photograph by Alex Prager

Alex Prager

Big West, 2019

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.

Learn about the artist
Play the Wind | Lehmann Maupin