Vanessa Prager: Portraits
In her mythic portraits, Prager works between still life and classicism to depict subjects that are a hybrid of floral life and human beings.
Diane Rosenstein is pleased to present Portraits, an exhibition of recent paintings by Vanessa Prager. This installation is comprised of fifteen oil paintings that depict individuals in a profound state of metamorphosis. In her mythic portraits, Prager works between still life and classicism to depict subjects that are a hybrid of floral life and human beings. This is Prager’s second solo exhibition with Diane Rosenstein Gallery.
With a humorous nod to Arcimboldo’s Proto-Surrealistic naturalist visages, Prager’s ‘portraits’ employ the flower as a metaphor for both the transformative and transitory qualities of life. The artist, acknowledging profound ‘cataclysmic shifts’ in the world over the past few years, notes that this body of work is a gesture towards connection and reconnection with others, an expression of optimism.
Vanessa Prager (USA, b. 1984) is a self-taught artist who is known for her elaborate impasto painting technique that creates thickly layered and sculptural surfaces. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Prager’s abstract paintings explore themes of identity, self-reflection, and the human condition in the 21st century. Prager received a solo show with Diane Rosenstein, Los Angeles, in 2021. Other solo presentations include those at Kristin Hjellegjerde, Berlin (2019) and London (2018); The Hole, New York (2018, 2016); Richard Heller, Los Angeles (2017); and Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco (2012). The artist’s work has also been featured in group exhibitions such as Go Figure!, Curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (2019); Extra, The Hole, New York (2018); How They Ran, Over The Influence, Los Angeles (2018); Sweet Cheeks, Big Pictures, Los Angeles (2018); Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles (2017); Russian Doll, M+B Gallery, Los Angles (2015); In the Heat of the Night, Castor Gallery, New York (2015); The Blob, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles (2015); Me and Benjamin, Galerie Xippas, Paris (2014); Boy+Girl, The Salon at Automatic Sweat, Los Angeles (2014); Seven Sisters, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco (2013); Good Intentions, Subliminal Projects Gallery, Los Angeles (2013); Portrait of A Generation, The Hole, New York (2012); High Five, New Image Art, Los Angeles (2012); MOCA Fresh, MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles (2012); Incognito, ICA/Santa Monica Museum of Art, Los Angeles (2012); California Girls, Katherine Cone Gallery, Los Angeles (2012); Girls, girls, girls, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York (2011); Drawn, Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles (2011); Wreck the Walls, Subliminal Projects Gallery, Los Angeles (2010); The Big Show, Silas Marder Gallery, New York (2009); Under the Influence, Gallery 1988, Los Angeles (2009); and Crazy for Cult, Gallery 1988, Los Angeles (2008).