Alex Prager is an artist with a unique taste for the unusual. Prager uses bright colors to intensify her somewhat controversial topics. Her bubblegum, candy shop, pinup girl approach is a product of Prager’s experimentation with styles reflective of William Eggleston, Annie Leibovitz and Richard Avedon.

As a child, Prager moved between California, Florida and Switzerland. Because of her rapid change of residence, she never got the chance to settle down for a conventional education. After being inspired by the works of William Eggleston, Prager began to pursue her fascination with photography. Prager is a completely self-taught photographer. Even though she did not attend art school, Prager was forced to learn to use photographic equipment, such as lighting, through experimentation.

Her first solo show, “Polyester,” was put on in 2007 in Santa Monica, California. The show revolved around basic ideas of pop culture and superficial beauty.

Many of the subjects in the show are highly dressed up in makeup and bright colors to exemplify this sort of “Barbie” style. Prager’s latest solo exhibition entitled “The Big Valley” is currently showing in the Yancy Richardson Gallery in New York City.

This show is a continuation of her previous show, though in a bit different light. Rather than forcing the ideas of her photos upon the viewer, The Big Valley is not as shrill and profound as Polyester. Instead, the subjects are more so expressing a deeper individual emotion, while the subjects in Polyester were more focused on image and outward expression.