Each week we are given artists talks from our tutors. This may be an artist that relates to our work or doesn’t, but either way these talks are useful as they give us inspiration and some extra secondary research. I find it convenient to talk about artists and to listen to opinions of others. Today we looked into the work of Gregory Crewdson, an American contemporary photographer.
Gregory Crewdson
Born on September 26, 1962 in Brooklyn, NY, the artist went to the State University of New York. After completing University in 1988, Crewdson began working on the first of his many lengthy photographic series, Natural Wonder.
Gregory Crewdson is best known for staging cinematic scenes of suburbia to dramatic effect. This photographers mysterious images create a sense of unease by asking questions, he leads the viewer into dark places in their search for meaning. I like that there are no answers to his work, just questions. It is evident in his work that Crewdson wants his audience to be curious, each image of his that I have seen has made me as questions. The surrealism of his work creates stories and wonder.
Crewdson’s work is centred around American homes and typical middle-class neighbourhoods. He takes these relatable everyday places and creates bizarre and unsettling images which provide a sense of disturbance. Often these images look like stills from a movie as they are both dramatic and cinematic. All the images hint that something is about to happen, or that something has recently happened.
For example, this image features what appears to be an abandoned car with each of its doors open. There is no people in this scene but there are visible lights on in the houses. This leaves viewers curious and asking questions.
His images are split into two distinct types. There are the outdoor location shoots which are massive in scale – often involving whole streets. And there are the indoor sets. Both have the same aim to “create a world that feels both real and imagined.” He uses a large format camera that produces 10×8 negatives. He chooses this format because of it’s high resolution and it’s ability to achieve a high deep field of focus.
Crewdson’s photographs have proven to be successful both in and outside of gallery settings, with his works in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others. The artist lives and works in New York, NY.
Final Major Project 