If you’re in New York, stop by Yancey Richardson Gallery and check out Week-end, an exhibition of new work by Alex Prager and the third installment in the photographic trilogy of staged female portraits by the Los Angeles-based artist.

Simultaneous with this show in New York, Week-end will be shown at the M + B Gallery in Los Angeles.

Through her constructed narratives and dramatic portraits, Prager explores a range of female types from vulnerable to powerful, from tragic to tender and from coolly detached to literally playing with fire. Prager’s photographs are inspired by and set in her native city of Los Angeles, a place the artist describes as “A strange picture of perfection…with a sense of unease under the surface of all this beauty and promise.”

With wigs, makeup and retro costumes meticulously planned, Prager casts and directs her friends in the role of the protagonist, most often a solitary figure absorbed in a personal drama.

Cinematic and darkly playful, Prager’s photographs suggest a narrative occurring just outside the frame. But like fashion photographer Guy Bourdin, a master of the photographic mise-en-scène, Prager constructs more than a pretty picture, often infusing her narrative with a dark sense of foreboding.

Check out both Yancey Richardson Gallery’s site and M + B Gallery’s site for more info.

Week-end
Alex Prager
Yancey Richardson (New York) + M + B (LA)
Through 02.20.10