Alex Prager and Yancey Richardson in Conversation

Thursday, September 30, 6:30 pm
Aperture Gallery & Bookstore
547 West 27 Street, 4th floor
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

Free Admission
Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis

Aperture and the Photography Program in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design present the first of the Parsons Lecture Series with Alex Prager in conversation with Gallerist Yancey Richardson. With striking color and carefully constructed compositions, self-taught photographer Alex Prager (b. 1979), represents young women, who often wear glamorous retro clothing, in beautifully staged cinematic portraits. Inspired by both the directors of dark melodrama Alfred Hitchcock, Douglas Sirk, David Lynch, and the innovative color photography of William Eggleston, Guy Bourdin, and others, Prager depicts a Technicolor world whose dazzling surfaces reflect a subtle sense of unease in the faces of her women, and in the implied narratives that lurk within the frames. Through referencing the stylistic conventions of the film still, she creates an atmosphere of tension and brittle beauty, heightened by the contrast between location and her dolled up subjects. In Prager’s synthetic universe female behavior is given a gloss underscored by suggestions of drama, suspense, and uncertainty. She has had numerous exhibitions in the US and abroad of the series work that includes “Polyester,” “The Big Valley,” and “Week-end.” Her work will be shown in “New Photography 2010” at the Museum of Modern Art in September. Solo exhibitions include the Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica; Michael Hoppen Gallery, London; M + B Gallery, Los Angeles; Ringcube Gallery, Tokyo; and Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Yancey Richardson is one of the preeminent dealers of fine art photography in the country. A member of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), Yancey Richardson brings over 28 years of experience to the gallery’s exhibition program. Formerly housed in the renowned 560 Broadway building in historic Soho, the gallery is now located at 535 West 22nd Street, in the heart of New York’s Chelsea art district.

Aperture Foundation’s public programming is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. This program also receives generous support from the Kettering Family Foundation, the Henry Nias Foundation, and the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, and the ASMP Foundation.
For additional information, please contact the Photography Office at Parsons The New School for Design, (212) 229-8908, ext 4244