Corcoran Displays A 'Face In The Crowd'; Bottega Veneta, W Magazine Host New Alex Prager Exhibit Preview Party

NORTHWEST -- The latest addition to the Corcoran Gallery of Art's exhibition roster showcases the work of renowned Los Angeles artist Alex Prager in her first U.S. solo museum presentation.

The Face in the Crowd exhibit, which officially opens on Saturday, November 23rd and runs through March 9th, 2014, brings together 40 photographs and four films by Prager into a portfolio that combines both her earlier and most recent material.

And members of the press were invited to join some of the Corcoran's most ardent supporters on Tuesday night, for a private preview of the exhibit attended by the artist herself.

Prager's use of carefully staged, crowded spaces to capture -- either via large-scale photographs or on film -- various 'psychological narratives' created by a sea of costumed actors has won her both critical and commercial praise in the art world.

Face in the Crowd is her most ambitious and complex series to date and was created specifically for the Corcoran exhibition, as organized by Kaitlin Booher, assistant curator of photography and media arts.

Yesterday's party was an especially stylish affair, with Italian luxury fashion house Bottega Veneta and W Magazine serving as lead sponsors.

Prager freely mingled with guests on the second floor of the gallery throughout the fashionable fete and seemed particularly excited in observing guests' reactions to her work. Far from a stuffy affair despite the abundance of designer duds on display, (well behaved) children of invitees were even welcomed to the party (Prager does cite Where's Waldo? as an influence after all).

Photo: Kate Warren
Afterwards, a small group of friends and family accompanied the artist to The Hay-Adams hotel for a late dinner, which surely began with a celebratory toast.