I was skimming through the newspaper a fortnight ago when an article about a new Photography Exhibition at London's Michael Hoppen Gallery caught my eye. Alex Prager brings her brand new, and utterly captivating - " Compulsion" - to the capital city for one month from April to May 2012.
Despite studying photography for my A Levels I haven't ever really possessed much interest in researching professional photographers, naively thinking them not to be real artists in the true sense. I then discovered William Eggleston and that blew the doors wide open. It would appear, after doing my research on Miss. Prager, that I am by no means the first to be excited and influenced by Eggleston's perfect control and mastery over colour and the beauty of suburban life.
Prager has picked up the Eggleston baton and run with it. Her pictures conjure up the late 50's / early 60's, and her earlier work often features female students and house wives, living out their day to day existence or in a state of distress. The area that really intrigues me is Prager's most recent works. There has always been something faintly disturbing in the photographs, that lurks behind the veneer of America during its first great boom in consumerism - all the high heels, the lipstick, the cigarettes hanging off the bottom lip, the bright colours, the perfume, its all there. Its all covered.
But beneath that, Prager is questioning what price we pay for our looks, and for our westernised obsession with a consumer culture. In her current exhibition, almost every single picture features a tragedy, still shot in the happiest of tones and colours, which makes the pieces appear comical and tongue in cheek, were it not for the subject matter they are depicting.
I simply love her use of colour. I love how you can either take her work at face value, or you can scratch at it and give it as much or as little meaning as you like. There is a tendency nowadays to take ourselves ever so seriously, which leads me to wonder if the photos themselves are meant to be taken with a pinch of salt, and for us to just enjoy? To marvel in the nostalgia of the environments and the beauty of the characters Prager is depicting? Or are we meant to be seeing the big questions of the world?
For me the answer is not always obvious. Sometimes I can't help but be drawn into the photos due to their sheer joy and brightness. The photos offer up a naive America, when the country appealed so much for its infinite possibilities and for being a land of innovation and dreams, and much like those who fell for it at the time, I find myself wanting to believe that exists. It is then that I see past the initial appeal of what the photos are presenting to us, and see a dark and harsh world of ruin and loss at pursuing a life that is fabricated by nothing more than possessions. The characters in Prager's photographs tried to live the dream but fail to find any satisfaction.
There is certainly more to Alex Prager than first meets the eye and I suspect she has walked a more complicated and difficult road then even she lets on, but either way, the work she is doing is the real deal, and utterly, utterly beautiful in its presentation. The power Prager really has is the endless appeal of her work. She has already branched into film and adverts, and is willing to try new mediums if it is something that excites her. The style she has landed on is so gorgeous and so vivid that her work could appeal to any old Tom, Dick and Harry, whilst at the same time have critics and journalists on their knees.
Where Alex Prager goes next is mystery. But you can guarantee its not going to be dull.
* Watch a brilliant interview with Miss. Prager here, as she talk about starting out in photography and what inspires her. *
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