Gregory Crewdson

While I was in New York t'other week I spent a day checking out some gallery shows recommended to me by the good people at Black Frame. Although I've not really ever done more than the big public galleries here in the UK, it seems like the independent art scene in NYC is far healthier and far more open to the general public, which is really good. I could be wrong, like I said I've not done enough hunting in London.

But anyway I spent a Saturday strolling through Chelsea visiting these recommended galleries, and some of the ones in between. One of which, I now know, thanks to Lost at E Minor, was Gregory Crewdson's 'Beneath The Roses'.

I don't really know why I didn't try to find out more when I was there, other than having a heap of other shows to get to, because I found his work extremely powerful. There were two in particular, in their own little room, that worked really well together. I took some bad blurry photos:

The thing that you can't really appreciate at 400 pixels wide is the haunting clarity of Crewdson's photographs. These prints were probably 4 or 5 foot across and somehow he's managed to completely remove any depth of field with objects in the background and foreground in equal crystal clear focus.

In both of these pictures there is a really interesting dialogue between the two characters and their surroundings, with so much unsaid but implied at the same time. At the risk of sounding stupidly pretentious without really knowing what I'm on about, I'll leave it there, but if you can get along to see any of his work, I'd highly recommend it. There's a book too. He's even showing in London right now!! See you there.