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July 5th, 2008
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Photos from the twilight zone

Gregory Crewdson creates bizarre scenarios of modern living
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By Tony Ozuna
For The Prague Post
April 9th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
For his elaborate portrayals of suburban ennui, Crewdson enlisted Hollywood stars such as Julianne Moore.
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Gregory Crewdson


at Galerie Rudolfinum Ends June 25. Alšovo nábř. 12, Prague 1-Old Town. Open Tues.-Sun.
10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Every image is like a film unto itself in this exhibition of lush, cinematic photographs.
Gregory Crewdson, born in 1962 in New York, follows in the glorious path blazed by Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall, creating staged photographs that are epic in scale — though Crewdson doesn’t prance and pose himself (like Sherman), nor are his photos aiming for supreme banality (like Wall’s). While none of the works is titled, each reveals such a personal (and bizarre) story that they seem almost to be from one’s own memory, or from a film seen long ago — or from nightmares.
Crewdson’s exhibition at the Rudolfinum is divided into five major sections, spanning 1992 to 2002, with his series “Twilight” (1998–2002) as the centerpiece.
The exhibition room on the ground floor appears to have some of Crewdson’s early work, displaying about a dozen smaller black-and-white photos. But this series, titled “Hover,” is actually from 1996–97. One photo shows a crowd of people “posing” outside their homes in a mountainside suburb. The spectacle in the photo is a bear that has overturned some trash cans on the street, and a dog catcher trying to deal with the situation.
Another shows a house that caught fire during a child’s birthday party. The fire is put out in the nick of time, and the photo captures firemen in the act of saving the day. In most of these photos, both the active characters (firemen, policemen) and the onlookers are in frozen poses, as if they have all been struck with paralysis.
Upstairs, the exhibit begins with “Natural Wonder” (1992–97), works that are all seeped in deep color. They seem to reveal rich and fantastical details of nature. In reality, the scenes were built, sometimes over months, like a diorama in a Natural History museum. There is a bouquet of butterflies, gigantic moths kept out of a peaceful home by a window screen, and a man’s decomposing limb caught in a tangle of thorns and vines. There is a slimy and hairy mound of worms, and a circle of birds’ eggs with mother birds overlooking it. The latter includes a miniature model of a suburb in the background with the stuffed birds in the foreground, a scene that calls to mind David Lynch’s Blue Velvet.
The next room features photos from Crewdson’s most acclaimed series, “Twilight.” In one photo, a naked woman stands in her bedroom in front of a large dressing mirror. A man sleeps naked on the bed behind her. The carpet around her feet appears soiled, but it is actually burned black, as if she is so hot that she’s on fire. In another, shot at early dawn, a woman in a nightgown toils away at a flowerbed growing on the floor inside her kitchen or dining room.
The series “Beneath the Roses” (2003–05) contains much larger photographs, but they seem more innocuous than the previous works: There isn’t as much of a shock or horror factor. Rather, the photos portray scenes of life amiss, viewed in hyper-realistic clarity, always shot at dusk or dawn in a lonesome suburban setting. There are lots of wandering souls in wastelands and corrupted domestic scenes, people escaping or in the act of disappearing. Even if they are filthy, the models tend to be young and beautiful. And whether photographed in couples or alone, they all seem frozen in their isolation.
For these photographs, Crewdson employed production crews of up to 150 people, including crane operators (for his aerial shots), casting agents (to select the models), hair stylists and makeup artists. As a result, there is something drained out of the works. They feel too staged, too picture-perfect. There is a side room with 11 stills, selected by Crewdson, of the behind-the-scenes work on this series.
The last room, with the series “Dream House” (2002), seems to be Crewdson’s dream project, using Hollywood actors Gwyneth Paltrow, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore and others. The scenarios are of the same type, though these are focused on domestic tensions. Shot indoors or just beyond the house, they show people caught in a failed act of escape. Because of the familiarity of the actors, the photos seem to be scenes from a film. In one, Macy is in his garage digging up the floor, which is a bed of grass. His car is parked outside, providing the needed light. He has just uncovered something, seemingly more than he expected or can deal with. Or perhaps he is trying to cover something up, with the same feeling — it’s too much to cope with. In short sleeves and trousers, he is covered in dirt, kneeling on a mound of grass, exhausted. He cannot continue — his show is over.
Overall, Crewdson’s photos portray scenes fit for a movie, but too complex for still photography. They are cinematic installations, art performances in the guise of a photograph. Requiring full production staffs, his photos can resemble sublime scenes in Hollywood films, or a typical American TV series set in suburbia, USA — with something amiss. Sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint the problem in the scene, just as it’s difficult for many people to articulate how an actual situation has gone wrong. But everyone realizes when it has.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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