Twilight: Photographs by Gregory Crewdson

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Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic (solo) 2008 Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico 2008 Gregory Crewdson, White Cube, London, England (solo)

Contemporary American Photography 1970-2000, From the Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Samsung Museum of Modern Art, Seoul, Korea He credits seeing a Diane Arbus exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, taken by his psychoanalyst father at the age of 10, as sparking the first moment when he decided to become a photographer. Crewdson’s working method is often compared to a movie director, but instead of telling a story in 130,000 frames, he condenses the story into a single frame.

In some photographs, the subjects seem occupied with peculiar domestic activities such as carving holes in the middle of a standard bedroom. In others, a bunch of brightly colored butterflies seems to escape from a garden. Gregory Crewdson – Untitled (Bedroom tree) from Twilight, 2001 – 2002 Gregory Crewdson – Untitled (Ophelia) from Twilight, 1998-2002 Analysis A Thousand Hounds. A Walk with the Dogs Through the History of Photography, UBS PaineWebber Art Gallery, New York, USA This eerie and disturbing image features all ordinary subjects and objects, however, unsettles the viewer through its depiction of a fictional realm. Like many of Crewdson’s photographs, meaning is elusive and one can only find more questions than answers. The settings are all suburban, and the spectrum of wrongness extends from just a hint of tone to the nightmarish:

In this article, we will provide an introduction to the career and photography style of one of the most important fine-art photographers today. His photographs are usually limited to a small American town but are cinematic and dramatic. They characterize of surreal and disturbing events. Using a large team, an elaborate stage is set and lighted before pictures could be taken. His style of photography has been influenced by films, such as The Night of the Hunter, Blue Velvet, Safe, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Vertigo. Other influences include Diane Arbus and Edward Hopper.Themes of alienation, the unknown, and a disconnect between the photographer and subject are ongoing elements of Gregory Crewdson’s photography. The Disturbance is one such image that evokes a sense of uncertainty and tension through the depiction of an icy landscape visible through large windows, of which one is made aware of the sense of vulnerability in the woman facing the windows. The large-format camera helps capture all the detail for his huge 7ft gallery prints.His images are enhanced digitally in photoshop and sometimes stitched together before printing. We Love Painting, The American Contempororay Art from Misumi Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan 2002 New Work 6: Gregory Crewdson, Twilight, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, USA (solo)

These pictures are a meditation on brokenness, a search, a longing, and a yearning for meaning and transcendence. The figures are surrounded by vast decaying industrial landscapes and the impinging nature ― and there’s a certain underlying suggestion of anxiety. But I hope in the end the theme of nature persisting, and of figures seeking out light, offers hope for renewal, even redemption.Ranging in appearance from avant garde installation pieces of gloom and organic matter to stills from a lost David Lynch movie, this collection's constructed photographic art pieces reverberate with one theme: It gave me an inkling of the power of pictures,” he recalled of the visit to American Photo. “But I didn’t start taking pictures until I was in college. I had a crush on a girl who was photo major, and followed her into a photography class. My Photo 1 teacher was Laurie Simmons, and my crush went from the girl to my teacher. As soon as I took my first pictures, my crush shifted from the teacher to photography.”