Critiques
| Questions | Write ideas here. State first impressions. Make guesses. Say what you see, do not say what you like or dislike. Suspend judgement. Describe, analyse, interpret. |
| 1. What stands out most when you first see it? | Alex Prager: Silver Lake Drive Exhibition. What stood out the most was one of the images of Alex Prager of a woman in a green dress facing backward up on the hill in a park or mountain. Majority of Alex Prager are C-Print. Then along the side was a group of women underwear or half-dressed smoking cigarettes and drinking. The image was itself was interesting because the use of colors, settings and even the idea was created to create this representation.
|
| 2. Explain the reason you notice what you mention in Q1. |
I notice that on the side there was more information about Alex Prager. Her exhibition was very distinctive on her images and how it was layout clearer. Her work focused on cinema and popular culture to bring together with the photographs series and moving image work.
|
| 3. As you keep looking, what else seems important? | Going along ahead, there’s various series into one but one of them strike me the most was ‘face in the crowd’. She made a collaboration and create dynamic tableaus where each individual characters are resented equally in focus or even lost conversations. They were set in different locations in public spaces such as beaches, airports, and streets. This has a strong representation of women along with their figure and culture. |
| 4. Why does the element you mention in Q3 seem important? | It seems important because as it was happening on the scene, it created a series along with moving images which demonstrate she has a passion for filmmaking and photographs. |
| 5. How has contrast/structure/space/colour been used? | She used a lot of space and colour to have a strong representation in popular culture by looking at different kind of people during the era. Her images were contrasting the reality and fiction, by observing the surface and depth in public and timeless. |
| 6. What leads your eye around from place to place? | Each image was using wide space to view each of one clearer and to understand why has Alex represented her images this way. It created a strong glossy composition between drama and psychological. |
| 7. What tells you about the artist that created this? | The artist created this way tells me that was focusing on people’s daily time as well as the use of space how she used at the studio and the streets to make this happen. It is interesting how she used the crowd to make a power of colours along with time, sound and film work; between personal, public and ethereal. |
| 8. What seems to be hiding in the composition? | What seems to be hiding in the composition of her images is to gain attention to the readers of looking at the pure detail from the scenes to clothing, prop and lighting to create uncanny technicolor tableau viands. |
| 9. Why do you think this is hidden? | I don’t think anything is hidden because of it pretty clear on what she was focusing on. |
| 10. Imagine the feelings and meanings this work represents – what are they? | The meanings and feelings represent on different types of emotions and conversation with people whether in the crowd or not. I believe that she was not only focusing on the crowd but mainly with women to have a strong representation of their emotions such as tragedy or depression. |
| 11. What other titles could be given to this work? | I wouldn’t think of any title that she created because it goes along on what she has done in her filmmaking and photographs. |
| 12. What other things interest you about this work? | There was also her book of all her images she produced each issue in her exhibition. Which she did more photographs compare on what was on displayed. Each issue created a unique composition for example in her issue of ‘compulsion’ in 2012 was demonstrating the disaster such as the fire in the house and on the top corner there was an eye. The eye represents sadness, confusion and loss. |
| 13. What do you think the artist was trying to convey in the work – to moralise, elevate the spirit, instruct? | She was trying to elaborate on stage settings as well as creating contexts, the atmosphere of intrigue and allure. Her influence by photographers was from Diane Arbus and William Eggleston which she composes to offer a world of drama, wit, and emotion. |
| 14. Describe anything else in relation to this work. | in relation to her work, I found it very interesting on the use of her composition to each image, film, and issues. I love the fact that she used a different kind of human race to even create a reality when it was in the studio set. Very interesting as well she interview a few people with a great diverse on age, race, and religion. |
| 15. Suggest up to 10 keywords that relate to the meaning of this work. | The keywords that relate to this meaning of work are space, popular culture, women figures, colours, hyper-stylized, emotions, dynamic tableaus, diversity, public and state of disquiet. |
| 16. Create a narrative in up to 100 words from this work that would convey this work to others. | I believe that from observing Alex Prager’s work will inspire viewers on how she created a different atmosphere to appear in the era in the 70s time. The use of time and space are very distinctive to create a strong dynamic tableau. The use of locations was also inspiring because of the use of light from the sun and colors on what people were wearing in the film/series. It contrasts the bad and the beauty for instance in one of the images Alex use a beautiful woman wearing a green plaid dress however she has a cigarette in her hand to define as depression, sadness or even lost in herself. |
