Barbara Research

Much of Prager's work tends to be seen as a collective body of work and is usually reviewed as a show. I've found it very difficult to find any analysis or reviews about an individual image (any individual image, not just Barbara). So I have been doing lots of research into the exhibition Weekend, first shown in 2010. I've found this very useful as I need to understand the context in which the photographer wishes for the image to be seen in order to make a fully informed assessment of the image.

Similarly these photographs of the exhibition allow me to visualise how the work was intended to be viewed. They are hung simply in a white frame and the scale and proportion feel almost cinematic. They reference film in the large rich prints and minimal settings, encouraging the eye to focus on the 'screen' and witness the drama being played out.





I've also been reading some reviews on the exhibition and trying to learn as much about it as I can.

Here are links to some of the resources I have been using:

• http://www.alexprager.com/

• http://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artist,show,3,120,253,1288,0,0,0,0,michael_hoppen_contemporary.html
• http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2159311/alex-prager-wins-foam-paul-huf-award
• http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/newphotography/alex-prager/
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/9217494/Alex-Prager-Photographys-heir-to-Hitchcock.html

And some soundbites from them:

• 'Photography's heir to Hitchcock'
• 'Femme fatale uniform of red lipstick and high heels'
• 'Hitchcock's undercurrent of fear. Cindy Sherman's themes of female identity. Gregory Crewdson's nightmarish suburbs. The cartoonish drama of Roy Lichtenstein's women. She takes all this visual language and creates something entirely her own.'
• 'The grotesqueries of L.A.'