April 7: L.A. Noir

Alex Prager’s photographs, which have appeared in this magazine and in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, often evoke the self-taught artist’s celebrated aesthetic forebears. The pregnant moods in her scenarios suggest Alfred Hitchcock; the dress-up fantasies, Cindy Sherman; the saturated hues, William Eggleston. In “Compulsion,” Prager’s latest show, opening April 7 (through May 12) at M+B gallery in Los Angeles, her style recalls the pulpy crime-scene photographs of Weegee and Enrique Metinides. Not surprisingly, the tone of her images feels more sinister than ever.

Photo: courtesy of M + B Gallery, Los Angeles