after they’ve been shot] that I start to see what they
really meant,” he reflects. He cites the experience
of finally developing his Fireflies series (1996), 10
years after spending a summer shooting alone at his
parents’ cabin. “I had recently separated from my
wife and until I revisited the images of the mating
fireflies, I didn’t really realize what the summer
had been about for me.” He expresses a similar
sentiment regarding his Twilight series (1998-2002).
“My father was sick while I was working on the photos
and passed away before they were finished. I’m just
now starting to really see what’s inside those photos
as well.”
These deeply reflective moments are key to
understanding Beneath the Roses. These works
“offer a less literal narrative and are more about
the mood and atmosphere and a psychological
relationship,” Crewdson says. Natalia Mager Sacasa,
senior director at Luhring Augustine, agrees. “It’s
not a new turn, as it fits into the lineage of his
landscapes, but the images are less elevated and
closer to the ground. Distance is a central theme.
He’s pulling back the camera, diffusing the intensity
and using light to coerce the eye.” Signaling the
cautious moment between stasis and movement,
the staring yellow traffic lights in the Hopper-esque
Brief Encounter reflect Crewdson’s legacy of shifting
boundaries: love/death, close/distant and public/
private. Shooting the series in winter 2006 and the
summers of 2006 and 2007, Crewdson struggled
with the unpredictability of snow (natural and
man-made). But he feels his greatest challenge
was negotiating the scene between mother and
infant in Birth. “It took forever to shoot because
the baby wouldn’t stay away from his mother. He
wouldn’t maintain the distance we needed—he
kept crawling toward her,” he recalls.
Ironically, Crewdson says, “My work is always about
return.” Indeed, he can’t quite escape Freud or the
tensions that toxify the everyday. But he’s illuminated
enough dark corners so that false security of reality
becomes something into which, with Crewdson,
we willingly stumble n Gregory Crewdson, April 4,
Luhring Augustine Gallery, 531 West 24th Street, New
York, NY 212.206.9100 luhringaugustine.com; April 17,
The White Cube Gallery, 48 Hoxton Square, London,
England + 44 20 77497450 whitecube.com; May 3,
Gagosian Gallery, 456 North Camden Drive, Beverly
