Gregory Crewdson was born in 1962 in New York. He is famous for his staged cinematic scenes of small-town America and neighbourhoods. Initially he worked on his own but over time has increased collaboration to create large scale crews. The crew size on Beneath the Roses (2008), for example was approximately 200 people.
His lighting and sets are built to a high budget movie standard. His role is equivalent to a Director/Cinematographer and does not actually handle any camera. Even his outdoor scenes are staged in ‘closed off’ roads and neighbourhoods with striking lighting giving an otherworldly feel. He generates surreal scenes and creates multiple levels of narrative, strong visual colours and clarity. His work differs from someone like Philip-Lorca diCorcia in that Crewdson’s are completely staged with actors and set design.
In an interview with the SCI-Arc channel (2016) he describes photography as a singular and lonely activity in spite of working with lots of people. His emphasis is on lighting and colour to create as mysterious and beautiful a picture he can. Locations are also important and although he uses places that he knows he says they could actually be anywhere.
One interesting aspect that is discussed in the interview which I had not realised before was how his work contains “no contemporary”. In fact it is as he describes it “outside of time”, non-descript, ordinary but aged.
His work combines outside and indoors, sometimes creating rooms on a soundstage and others on location in real buildings. Architecture and domestic are re-occurring themes in his work.
He specifically states that he wants the viewer to decipher the story although obviously Crewdson’s sub-conscious does come through. Most of his work contains a psychological darkness which are not his main aim but he admits it is there.
Having listened to Crewdson and Philip-Lorca diCorcia it starts to surface how they are telling stories about themselves and each new series is an attempt to create a new way of telling that story. It is now clear how art photographers differs from amateur / professional wedding or sports photographers. The aim of the latter is to record what they see in the most technically precise way possible. They still have an eye for beauty and their skill and knowledge of their equipment is essential for a successful image. However, the majority of images produced this way are fairly generic and standard in composition. The resulting images do not convey their own personality and although they are taught to capture the story in a single frame an art photographer uses a whole series to build a narrative.
Unfortunately for a lot of viewers, art photography is not accessible. Crewdson at least creates cinematic style scenes that the majority can appreciate as they have all been to the movies.
Gregory Crewdson – Cathedral of the Pines @ Photographer’s Gallery post
Martyn Rainbird 