The frequently

made comparisons

work

CO

the movics=-Stcvcn

no visual artifact made by man so much as 1950S Technicolor

the lobby of the Palace Theater

lescence, They're

shots, inviting one, obliging one, especially

like stop-action

The comparisons
are assembled

expensive

crews and vast amounts

of equipment

upon trust and collaboration

tise. They are assembled

Yet it seems

amount

revelation

but like movies they

of planning

Massachusetts,

with the characters

photographs

alternative

want to

III

Bogart in (;<lS<I])llIl1t'li
ill 11),1,'1111111

reality ready

to

"I'f',lIill,II

huvc iL' 11111111"

11111'1

enough to furnish it with our pn;exislillg

Further

lilt lilt 1

to that, a single iSlJlIIll'tI pllllllll',1

have to read or write

from using our imagination. It's not

fia;ollo/world,

What's on the

to

the entire

uovcl.

YtllI 1111\

if you will, und cure: it: 1111111111

for hours and days and weeks :Ind

screen enters our eyes and ears and fills our minds entirely, leaving us with no room or choice but
at the door. Movies, in contrast

II i 111.,,'11 , Nil, \

change the reader or the novelist

engage one's mind more like good fiction than

part of the deal. It's all done for us. Moviegoing is essentially a passive experience.

check our imaginations

I,ll

change the viewer or the phtllogl'tlpllt:I'IIiIll<dl,

movies. When we watch a movie, after all, we are prohibited

to

lir~I~ 111'1

:lllyIIO\\,

that part of ourselves to the cxpcricurc

me that inasmuch as the viewer is required to do a crucial part ofthe creative

work him- or herself, Crewdson's

IIItH

prod uccs chungc. ~ luvic .1111111111

\ III

Humphrey

by professional actors. A single

to

St'('lt'(

if they were part of our rCmCIl1IH:l'ctll'\Pl'lli

(and they are charac-

traffic for entire days. So it's natural

phoHlglllp

inm-

SCCi'Cl

1111

for a while in our memory hunks urul hilI (' h('I'1

depends

the movies.
to

till'

us. Not at the moment or vicwinu,

and huge

most of them built in and around the decaying mill

shoot can force a town to reroute automobile

to

flaunted),

viewing them one's own

ill IIIgt 1\

ill ('olllph'll'

the way we do when we peer illto

are made. They do not

and machinery. And similarly, their production

ters, rather than subjects) played by local citizens and sometimes

compare them

SOLI nd-Il'ilt'k(,:d

way we do when, silently, slowly,

perhaps if one is

among many people with many different skills and types of exper-

town of North Adams, and Pittsfield,

r[lllltt~i~'~1I11d ill

For as much as Crcwdsou's

and require an enormous

likc soundstages,

I1l1l1il'y1)11111
III. I

and erasures, our

ampl i fy the fast-moving!

theaters of my boyhood and ado-

special way in which the photographs

to produce

i hcm,

movies lIl1d plug them into Ii1\: 11:1I'1'llIi"""""I~ Ii

to movies derive also from the way in which the contents of the pictures

and staged-the

unnouncc und .ulvuncc

our memories

on the details,

conceal their staging (the staging, its artificiality, is practically

are obviously

lO

in Lake Placid, New York, or the Star in Concord, New l iampVermont, The small-town

boy, to concentrate

Wcs

movie stills posted in

shire, or the Capitol in Montpelier,

an adolescent

Spielherg,

suggestive and derive [rom the "look" of the pictures, which

Anderson, David Lynch, etc.-arc

resemble

ofCrcwdsori's

(.;vcnll1llgrl,

\l

ings. A glance, a quick look-sec, will 11111

till II,

the glossy stills posted in the lobby

as for the viewer, as true for Ihe

nuvclivr

II<

I1I1II

n ns

II Y

1111;1111,,"1', 11111"111111"movies
1:.1'1
~II'I

Iliid

II,

11\1'

,II 11111111"'

111111

Sieve Spidh~rg,

"look"

1'101111111.:

ofthe

1111111111l lu '"1111111111'11
ihc.ucrx oi'my

in

n AN r,.

til

announce

our memories

and ado-

perhaps if one is

1II II 1\ III 111111II IIll' I'lIl1tllgl':l]lhs

arc made.

They

do not

urnouru of planning

1\ 1111111' 1111 l'11()llll!)lIS

II III,] 11111111111(
I y, And sinlil:lrly,
11,1'" 1111111"1111111IIIIIIy dillcrotu

III~il' production

III

,II 1111/111'1 ulld

11111111111111
Illtllli

1111111'111111"'1 I IIgdgl'

IIllt"S

till ,\I' ~11t plollillill'd

uctors.A

11111 11I11Id~ t'lltilf.'ly.

to

single
want

1I1ind more like good fiction

1'1'(11)

dH11l

usinu our im;Jgintiliol1. It's not

What's

on the

lcuviuu us with no room orchoice

I \111111". 111111111101'1111
illl'l-\llIs~y slills posted

revelation

one's own secret

produces

change.

us. Not at the moment

inner

Movies
banks

Humphrey
alternative
enough

hilt

in thc lohhy

to

to

Crewdson.

revealed

revealed,

by his photographs,

too-at

least

to

do many things to and for us; but they almost

anyhow.

Later,

experience

maybe,

they can, after they've

of going

furnish

it with our preexisting

isolated

change

the viewer or the photographer

change

the reader or the novelist

novel.

/irliQl/rt/ world, if you will, und enter

to

Atlanta

the movies.

memories,

dreams,

photograph

himself.

Movies

provide

been

stored
upon as

world where

to

we don't

bring

no half-completed
we can reside

long

and reflections.
one of Crewdson's,

any more than a single chapter

have to expose

it; andnor

burn. Simply,

by itself, even

No, you have

YOII

And

never change

there and can be drawn

filled in; no fictional

himself,

oneself.

on

of the world; as if we, too, had hung out with

in 1942 or had watched

ready to have its blanks

helve to read or write the entire

life is surely

life is necessarily

the experience

to that, a single

made by Gregory

the

we read a novel. Or

control of our rate of perception,

inner

reality

Further

to the

and have been compounded

Bogart in Casablanca

that part of ourselves

our dream lives and our nightmares

imagery on the screen and give it personalmcaning,

secret

of viewing,

for a while in our memory

to

III dO:1 cruci! pun of the creative

111\II ",lIllIg I., 1'''''I~'II\blly u pussivc experience,

ill.

mill

(anti they are charac-

hy professional

them

pasts,

and denials,

the way we do when we peer into the photographs

as Crewdsori's

anti hope. 'We can't bring our personal

using the material of our secret inner lives to fill out and

sound-tracked

if they were part of our remembered

depends

the decaying

III, l'nlin.: days, So ir's natural

Ii 1,,1111111'1\1 I ""'l]lIill'tI
II

characters

"HiI I II': ti mcs

and huge

skills and types of ex per-

1111',1",11111'1III 1111'111
hllih ill :lIlt! uround
I". lIillllhe

they

our fantasies

way we do when, silently, slowly, in complete

viewing

of (he pictures

1111111111111\.
I' 1'111I'lil'lIl1y lluuntcd), but like movies

~I'I"oIllll1"

and erasures,

For as much

II' ,11,1111111111111
lilly in whicl: the contents

them, nulliFy both memory

movies and plug them into the narrative,

1111 ,], loll],

Hid

and advance

amplify the fast-moving,

New I lamp-

boyhood

lilli, 11111IIIIf'. IIlll. flli/i)!,ill/!. IIn~, ~sp~eially

which

stills posted

1'1,11111.NI "'1111,.111' II", Si:II' in Conconl,

II"

w~s

pictures,

11),11' 'I <-vil IIico I01' movie

S E I. I.

cannot

from a novel can

sec or make a ssries of pictures;

yourself

to an alternative

only th.u, YOIl have lO livc there

you

world, a

for a long time,

for IlOllrs :lnd days und weeks :lnd C;V<.:IIlong<':I', ycurs, nnd Iill itOlll, und in, with your own imaginIIIOk,s~c, will not till ir. Alltllhis

ings, A gl:ln('c.aqllid<
as

rOI'

111(.;viewer.us

I nil'

rOI'

tilt, 1)0vl.'ll"Il

[Iii

rOI

hi'!

III

is "' II'IIC lorthe phologr:tph~r

ht'l u-uder.

himself

Th us it's as if Crcwdson,
ingly difficult

work ing in extended

su ites or series

to prepare

were

and time-consuming

and stage,

making

we, his audience,

can see what would

otherwise

see. He's

an artificial,

world that he can live in, albeit

making

life-size

seen that world, having lived there amongst

can begin

to look again.

at large; and then,

return

its ambiguities

seen his made

after each sequence

he will find himself

a child.

Having

be invisible

of' pictures

world,

is completed,

boy, maybe.

his pictures,

temporarily.

and uncertainties,

he can begin
having

imagined

the world

At least in my case. But perhaps

graphs

and

pictures.

specifically

as

cynical.

It's merely

being
most

the nineteenth-century
near-contemporaries

They

of photographs.

movies

cinematographic

Robinson,
Sherman,

left Out of the picture

or reference

exist-contributes
Inasmuch

the eye. They

possess

are to the novel,

of actuality.

NI

plilllllj4ll1pli"

tlll'1I1I111I I

raises

ofthe

quotidian,

hc 11111""111

quut idluu ,1111

I xhouhl

<II), 1111

bleak or PCSSillli,'til'

accurate,

For these

I il'11

PCIII'k-IIII'

II

with the particular,

Nabokov

reduction

This

quality

they

inescapable,
deny

that

kitchens

of seemsee it,

more

and simplification

that as the novel

of the infinite

quick

getaway,

PII'<I'IIII'I

the 1~lIsl',," ,111111II

or don't

glcaming

A.M.

vote nt ull,

II III

and no one

tile 1111111',Ill'iI
W:lll'llillgl

a face guilt-ridden

always

nrul

0\ ( I

11]1]111
h

to have a door lilln;',ing

someone

remembered

has pulled

than

reflect

cars seem

suddenly

in Right either
a long-forgoucn

over to the curb,

1'1'11111
[I 1111
criuu-

Aung open

111"

'III

Ilit, dlllll, [II

filled with fear and shame.

Crewdson

is to reality,
plenitude

that

Their

so that what you see is what you

once noted

and principles

and bathrooms,

mirrors

sentimentality

there's

impOl'tilnlly,

up "Beneath

years, TVs on at 5:00

how
actu-

you can't

most

ing precision and ease, who surround lIH.:ms('l\ l" "

certi-

no matter

And,

that make

self-interests

worth

and emotional

for reality-if

perhaps

time,

Not

presented.

pictures

to tell the

and so easily misrepresent

or substitute

stop

purport

photographs,

of

of Crewdson's

insignificant.

stillness

or set-up

to the essential,

photographs

is, Vladimir

i.e., a sharp

staged

to displace

an infatuation

you see is what there

the unnatural

from real life, so often

mightily

as most

rendered

like those

or some

are complete: They

one's lived experience

story, of seeming

photographs

for example,

is ipso facto

especially

scenes

is to say, they misrepresent

then it doesn't

Peach

It's why photographs,

they resemble

get. What

Henry

staged

are tableaux mourants and possess

ing to tell the whole

meets

even

like Jeff Wall and Cindy

tude of a diorama.

ality. That

photographs,
Victorian

story. Whatever's

signifying.

much

movic-,

hesitates

of' course

American

Cqlliltl()lIlltld

to later.
Historically,

whole

Which

lonely. To me, his is nota

I'll

lO

Crcwdsori's

tures. He's more a cartographc.

in a new way,

his, too, A thought

arc

that I love. One almost

them

the world

it as a child. Well, not quite

photographs

But not Gregory

For, having

anew

Imight cxu ..:nd iluu

are to the novel,

can

he is changed

to imagine

human existence,

not so that

to us, but so that he himself

a bit closer to the way he (and we) imagined

As an adolescent

that a rc exceed-

ing."

of

Ronald

He's

is what the poet Churlc

digging

Reagan's

through
sunlit

the ruins

morning

()]'"11 '"Id

Ill' 5:1111 \,~I" I

in Amcriru:

III " II

III

\11 IIdl

.lIld

I p1I1

II

'IIIH'

r'.',

1,lll

iluu :11'(; exceed-

.. 01 'H'dl'~ OJ' pil'tlll'(';S

\\Crl'

11iIddng his pictures,

human existence.

th.u

nOL so

are to the novel, photogruphs

1111111'11III 11111"hll' III liN, 1>111so t hut he himselfcan

,,11,1111111
Iii 1'11111111'ill,lIll>cillel11]101'lIrily,
III, 1111I11I1!~lIllirloj

he

IIIHIIIIH'(""l'Iuinli(;s,

1110111,
111111>1,
III' 11111hl'gill 10 imagine
1111111'11Ii'd, 1111\IlIg ililugill(;d

I" 1,11111
III) 11i1i11',iIl.'tIilliS
" ,1,1 III 111\ I'll",

II

is

But not Gregory

For, having

graphs

changed and

them

anew the world

pictures.

Which of course

specifically
lonely.

I'll

American

To me,

like those of

pictures

photographs,

hesitates

And, most importantly,

that make up "Beneath

to tell the

ing precision

and ease, who surround

Not worth

kitchens

1'11111 1',11'",11111'1 rendered

II 1"''''''

purport

insignificant.

1111111111111111',11
stillness

and emotional

I" , Lilli ,1,1111'11

01 Nl'l lip photographs,

certi-

no matter

111111
I, ,1111"', '0111'11'11II lid so easily misrepresent
;" ,,/, 'III'III'IIIT

how

mirrors

that reflect

A.M.

themselves

and no one watching,

a face guilt-ridden

and apprehensive

quick

getaway,

hcy deny

suddenly

sentimentality

that there's

111111111
111111
<llllplilil'lIrion

of the infinite

to

a long-forgotten

to

open,

of the

and corrosively

and it's certainly

by his pictures;

who vote against

one another

not

they're
The

their own

with shock-

objects,

fluorescent

no one has slept

soundly

for

closets, darkened

dining rooms, and

or else a person's

inadvertent

the motor left running,

from a bad marriage

crime-suffered

call
pic-

freed of judgment.

or a stick-up.

or committed,

over to the curb, flung open the door, and, heart pounding,

Crewdson

reality,

plenitude

in flight either

simply

back.

as if ready for a
Or as if the driver

it doesn't

matter-and

has fled into the night,

filied with fear and shame.

111111111
11111lIllliI'ldlll" so that what you see is what you
III NIII",)IIII 11111'1'Iloled that as the novel is

remembered

has pulled

more than

someone

where

overstuffed

cars seem always to have a door hanging

photo-

a cartographer

with shiny, manufactured

tile floors, bedrooms

Their

you can't see it,

perhaps

however,

or don't vote at all, who hurt and abandon

gleaming

reality and movies

melancholy,

with compassion,

show us the Americans

III' actuality. This quality of seem-

IIIi.d, pl'l'hliPS inescapable,

'1'11]111"""]1111111',

years, TVs on at 5:00

better

are not being represented

actu-

111"11111"III ,,11,,1i11l1<: for reality-if

1111111"'"

and bathrooms,

is violent,

view of Americans,

presented

the Roses"

lilt"

to

of what to call hilll, the maker of these

say, which

For these people

and principles

They

call them photographs;

I should

self-interests

/11111/1/1'11':

to

of the q uotid ian than a mere photographer,

1',,11 II 1(1111111'1111,1'111
vxu 111 pie, or some ofCrewdson's
',11'11111111,
III('

as the novel is

No, it's the illf'OlIIplrlelless ofCrewdson's

raises the question

quotidian,

cynical. It's merely accurate.

lind uddrhut

movies.

his is not a bleak or pessimistic

being presented.
II '1111',1>1111111111I1I1,llIpllicphotographs

equation

to

Crewdson's

tures. He's more a cartographer

child. Well, not quite as

his, too. A thought

arc

that 1 love. One almost

the world in a new way,

1\111pcrhups

I might cxtcndrhut

is what the poet Charles

ing." He's digging

of

Ronald

Reagan's

through
sunlit

Olson said a poet must be-"an

the ruins of 5:00

morning

in America;

A,M.,

excavating

he's mapping

archeologist

the dark, moldering

and measuring

of morn-

remnants

the tumbled

of

down

cellar walls of our New Jerusalem,

our City on a Ilill, our New World, cvcryrhim;

before we the people were born, got corrupted

and shoddy and old so fast :lnd turned

American Dream into the American nightmare. And like any nightmare,

have no beginning

iluu, ,lImOSI
the

paint all over and OIILto the edges 01' t lu: l'llll

or end. They reach back prior to when we first dropped off to sleep, back to

ture, terrible things have been done

to

as meaningful and important :lnd

pic-

Crewdson's

people by people in America for a very long time, whole

to me as an artist ....

Crcwdson

Emerging

ideas of beauty, sadness, ulicn.uinn,

will not change, except

to it, no before the

reduced

and simplified,

who possess no memory of para-

painting

do combine

Fall or after. We Americans

are permanently

fallen creatures

dise, only a fantasy of it. And the fantasy, unrealized,

Thus the pictures
anti narratives.

perhaps unrealizable,

exist in time, yes, but with no beginning,

Beginning,

middle,

merely point that way; they neither

mare, JUSt as in psychoanalysis,
father was a psychoanalyst),
Everything

or background

and end lie elsewhere,

withhold

outside

turns us violent.

middle,

or end. They

the frame, The

no detail is meaningless

are

in sharp contrast

pictures

placed inside the frame of the picture has equal meaning

self-importance,

through

in the

ward, simultaneously
satisfied, therefore,

flattening

the perceptual

field and heightening

This refusal to rank value and allusion among the elements

one normally associates with photographs,

staged, documentary,

associates with fiction or poetry. It is, however,

after-

Sl'i,'IH'"

Crcwdsun

the vV~lyone rnight

the uneasy mclancholiu

sequences.

10 III!"

Ill'S\' II I

SII"IPVi'l II
11111111"11

III

"IrII

tluu sllI'I'II<'"

They're almost

III "I 1",,"1

Il(.;Vt,;I' pH.'SVIlH'tlll"l

if'

work so far there is a progression,

as well.

on), from one sequence

of the picture is not a quality

format, or artistic intent

or candid. Nor is it a quality one

an aspect of certain symbol-resistant

it

ik'1Hi

Also, as I said, the pictures Illn(k 11) (ilq',!)

the details that fill it. Not

with merely being anti narratives, the pictures are antisymbolic

to Crcwdsori's,

realism and sly humor th.u contrarlir:

world that exists outside the frame. Among the details there is no hierarchy of value or allusion.
It's one reason they are so carefully staged and why they are shot on film and digitalized

in many ol'llll' '11111<'

\\II~'

alienation, and desire" has an ironic,

significant,

and importance

the tone, 1111111I'phlll,

them. One never suspects

that Crcwdson's

and all details are equally

tI~\'dH,"

[111d

"ideas of beauty, sadness, ulicntuion, uml

nor disclose it. And just as in a dream or night-

for that matter (and it might not be coincidental

11i111'l'1IIII'"

1'1'0111 11 dil.il 111111

another until there are no more of us around. It's our human nature, one might say, a thing that
grow worse. There is no foreground

lH.{'r..~'tilly U"I t'

work with tluu III' Slfit'lly li/l,lllIlll'

him to Edward Iloppcr.

and you can tell at a glance that we Americans will continue to do terrible things to one

to

111111
il,

jules Oliisk i, the Abstract I':xprcs"illlli",

his pictures seem to

the mists of our early history, and they promise not to end when we wake. In a Crewdson
centuries,

puil1lings, the work 01'puirucr: like I "'1('11 1'11111

to the lie", 'I'hl')

<IS

grow

()IH

ing assurn ptions for the next, 'Ih us,

abstract

nOI pmgH'."

OJ'OIIl'

1111l'

do

II

111IIHII

'l'lI" 'S 1111

the maker himself, altering the sI1apc 1I1'lIi, 11111

i.luu, almost

II (:11\ 1111d llill, "III' New \V()I'ltI, evcrYlhing

II 1111111]111'11
111111
sh(Jddy

.md ()Id so I'lst anti turned

1111,.1111111111',
/\11<1like lilly nightmClre,

his pictures

111111'" ]111111
iu whcn we fil'Sl dropped

offto

\ I'HIIlIt'W

1I0! 10

end when we wake. In

II III "]II, liy PI'II]l1c in America

hi"

II I

11111111111

11l1111l11l

1111II 1"111 f'1IIt:j.\I'OIIIid

,jIll

IlIh

to do terrible

nature, one might

him

things to one

to

Edward

Hopper.

to me as an artist ....

say, a thing that

Crewdson

Emerging

ideas of beauty, sadness,

and simplified,

painting

do combine

turns us violent.

"ideas of beauty, sadness,

middle,

outside

or end. They

the frame.

are

The

pictures

(11111I"l1d11111lIis('](Jse it, And just as in a dream

or night-

I 111,1111
I 1111111
il miulu not be coincidental

,iI " 1111dllillgkss

11i, pllllll<'

lind all details

hilS c(]lI:J1 meaning

1'1'1'111111111'1']
IIlld heightening
111I! uuu HII 1\ I.'S. IIH':

pictures

1I11'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIlg i hc clements

11]", "ill~I'II, ,]lll'llIllentary,

1'1,

of the picture

sequences.

and desire"
the uneasy

They're

painters,

however.

has said, "Hopper

American

tradition,

light, composition,

and desire."

Yet Hopper's

it seems to me, inasmuch

Crewdson

of self-pity

has an ironic, almost self-mocking

melancholia

that suffuses

that contradict

ing assumptions

abstract

made by Gregory

work deals with

and imagery
picture.

much

of a Hopper

And there are those

of those ideas stands
never sentimentalizes

for the scale of his pictures-of

Crewdson's

view of "beauty,

edge to it, a sharpened

giving

Hopper's

Crewdson

them

sadness,

blade that cuts

a kind of tough-love

softer, more illustrative

arrive in clusters,

bunches,

gaze.
suites,

as single units, as isolatos. And over the years in his

if not progress (although

to the next. They

altering

is

influential

I'll try to make a case for that further

do not so much differ from one another

the shape of his imagination

and the content

in subject,

providing the work-

for the next, Thus, one senses rhat the process of making the photographs

the maker himself,

with

compare

to make. Although

as Crewdson

his pictures,

or at least correct

almost never presented

Hopper's

expression

or-except

it of Hopper.

especially

has been profoundly

format, or artistic intent as grow out of one another, with each new sequence

Nor is it a quality one

their canvases

or

inch of the painting

They

It's an easy connection

atmosphere,

the way one might suspect

on), from one sequence

is not a quality

symbol-resistant

suspects

work so far there is a progression,

as well.

figurative

and desire."

alienation,

Also, as I said, the pictures

after-

who covered

in many of the same ways as in a Crewdson

realism and sly humor

that fill it. Not

are antisymbolic

un uspcct of certain

through

of value or allusion.

the details

or candid.

alienation,

in the

11',1d (11,,1\\ hv IIwy nrc shot on film and digitalized

One never

self-importance,

significant.

and importance

11111111\
1111'](,lIIi!.s there is no hierarchy

them.

Pollock or Mark Rothko

such that every square

from a distinctly

the tone,

in sharp contrast to Crewdson's,

that Crewdson's

are equally

and the Minimalists

himself

alienation,

reduced

or jackson

and necessary as every other square inch. Critics usually associate

work with that of strictly

no memory of para-

lid 1 lid Ill' cIxcwhcrc,

1111\\t'\

Crewdson's

Jullell rll ..::1(IIf'(,;~ who possess

unrealizable,

Exprcssioniscs

and important

to it, no before the

01'

, \1", 11111II irh IlO beginning,

as meaningful

pie-

background

1'\,111111'1111/1''],pcrhnp

I]

the Abstract

like l lclcn Frank<.:nthalcr

paint all over and out to the edges of the canvas,

back to

H Crcwdson

the work of painters

jules Olitski,

to

for a vcry long time, whole

\1111'1il'al!' \ViII coutinuc

1('., 0111'

seem

sleep,

paintings,

the

of his secret

changes
inner life,

so that afterward, when he returns

co his camera

if lie's looking

again, even

nearly the same thing, he docs not sec what he saw before, There

is

,I

~ILthe

same lhin;, or

different

context now,

Il'S an essential
vidual

Ilaving made a set of pictures, he sees the world freshly lind, moving on, gets to start anew.
So it must

be vcry exciting

to be Gregory

Crewdson.

It's as if the making

sidcr

conceived and executed in sequences, has taught hirn each time out and after the fact what it
was he meant to do but didn't, because he couldn't quite see at the time what
for, until he had failed to reach it. Or, more accurately,
It's as ifeach

discrete

series

der" and then "Hover"

of pictures,

and "Twilight"

and "Dream

House"

and now these magnificent

They
change,
doubt

weren't,

Won-

They

pic-

self-renovation,

the photographs

the overall

sequence

individual

photographs,

chapters

intention

in a novel,

Taken

than

the sum of its chapters.

omy

in a way that

the

indeed

And though

individual

chapters

pictures

to

plucked

more or less at random

perhaps

the majority,

missing,

are greater

of a novel

of a novel

by their maker-

by their

effort.

they appear

rain famous

but I

order,

:II'C

111('\1111

like wriucu

the emotional
Ifhis

certitude

111'111

pictures

individual
normally

Which

meet

,lll'I,"

like

of his work

he II/alm pictures.

pictures,
instead

(I"'i,

II

1111

"""

Expressionists.

We speak

is not true of the

symbolism,

'"

101

this WHy iJCl'IIII<l'. '"

Which

incline

of what they are. But all obvious

I" III 1
~Olllit'."

than the sum of its parts,

his lnany imitators and growing in llucm-c, (:11. \\

parts. As a novel

too much

photographs
cannot,

is greater

flirt with auton-

the analogy

of the chapters

own

of single

as having

parts of the novel, with many episodes

you the viewer,

the Abstract

to

I'

01',110"

it's only by allusion,

resistance

'I

or ci ncmut 01-\ Ii Ipi lil' ]lilil

the staged

paintings,

their stubborn

and that

to have been conceived,

to be greater

if you think

you the reader,

viewer,

as ends in themselves

than the sum of their

is useful

from different
inviting

meant

Crewdson's

chapters

resemble

rive zeal for the banal.

No, I'm sure that at the time of their

by Crewdson

individually,

of them

of them

self-contained

as parts of a larger sequence

And the sequences

single

as a completed,

however.

the use made

the making.

were felt and understood

was viewed

or pl1<IIII,.,III]l11

well as the use made

behind

,,",U('II1111

ill/I'n'II/I/II,I,

or sequence

PIIIIIIII

rely upon a camera lens) among other dc\ il't'''I

may be the result,

and renewal-as

it was the deliberate

making

That

lIlySlL'ly 1111<1
I"

Sl:IlSC, :11'(.;Il()\

Slory

in no particular

yet they evade

series of pictures.
of course,

that

evoke movies; and, yes, they

tures, "Beneath the Roses," were made in order to clear the ground and make room for the
next, yer-to-be-imagincd

series

or their

In sum, then, Gregory Crcwdsnn'

it wanting.

from the early work of the late 1980s to "Natural

in

interrupted.

the entire

although

he was reaching

until he had seen it and found

photographs,

have been

of his pictures,

clement

sense,

been

one with his work for

then,

chorus, as

parts.

his is a performance

1(1 pllljrl

art, .uul "1\"11"1111

sometimes in a largc g,dk'IY

it were, or sometimes more

viewers of his work as its audience.

uSl:l'lill'OIHPdll

world," he has said. "Ir's a scuiru;

one performed

and events,

to fill in the missing

at

!,,1

(II

1l1()dl.'\lh

HI

i r 1)1,,'
':-.luok i Ilg:ll

,11111 I II ,11_'.11111.l' \ VII

11,11III
\\ III

""I hvl'll(',

It I II I 'iIjl! Iv

There

;1111 I, 11\f)

I /',111 \ ( :11 "11,,,011.

I,'s

is

ving

:IS

:I

Oil,

I he S:l

different

me til i ng

context

or

lt's an essential

now.

vidual photographs,

gt,;ts to start anew,

if' I he making of his pictures,

,1/'1'til 111(..;

time what he was reaching

Thev resemble

yet they evade the emotional

III Ilidt

I III dl'llI

till'

:IIHI

now these magnificent

pic-

ground and make room for the

pictures are like movies, but mainly in the way they

the staged or cinematographic

certitude

photographs

made by other contemporary

of those photographs

and their postmodern,

tive zeal for the banal. If his pictures meet the test of all photographs,

I" lill II "III, lilt, lise mudc of them by their maker-

tain famous paintings,

II ," 1111"',' mudc of them by their viewer, but I

their stubborn

11111111111111';111"
Nil, 1'111sure that at the time of their
1,1>111,,,111\(:I('wtlson

CiS

ends in themselves

and that

111111111\,
III,'y uppcur to have been conceived,

III 1111

,111'1111111

III",

SHill

or

their parts. As

(:11,\11,1111',illtiivitill:ll photographs
,,"I

I 111 11111 1 ~ I d' I ilL'

resistance

to symbolism,

their insistence

pictures, he males pictures. Which inclines

like

appropria-

it's only inasmuch as they

And if they remind us of cer-

on a flattened

field of meaning, as with

LIS

as one critic has noted, Crewdson

to consider

his many imitators and growing influence,

Crewdson

novel is greater

too much at one with his work for useful comparison

flirt with auton-

own world," he has said. "It's a setting

sense, then, his is a performance

as having been

one performed

novel, with many episodes and events,

sometimes

111111'1111('
I, yuu Ihe viewer, to fi II in the missing parts.

more modestly

viewers of his work as its audience,

aside and despite

is sui gelleris and inimitable.

or imitation.

He is almost

"It's all about creating your

dramas onto." Tn a

the Roses" is not like an opera, it is an opera,

in a large gallery or museum

chorus, as it were, or sometimes

and references

to project my own psychological

art, and "Beneath

doesn't take

them in terms of what they arc like,

instead of what they are. But all obvious sources, similarities,

II 11111(']11I)I'Il11dly
cannot, the analogy of single

11'01
1111II \1111think 01' the chapters

artists,

it's only by allusion, as with Hopper and other American Realists, and by

vVe speak of his work this way because,

to he ,rc:lr.cr than the sum of its parts,

1111'111\1

ways.

the Abstract Expressionists.

I'll 11'11,"'11 1'11111

IIined effort. Which is not true of the
IIrlll

that

We have to take in the pictures as a whole,

rely upon a camera lens, among other devices, for their existence.

III

events

evo/.:e movies; and, yes, they are like written fiction, but only in certain epistemological

lid

11(111.",(.,1'

they're

indi-

in no particular order.

11111
IiII 1'1111\III"" 01'111(0late 1980s to "Natural Won1'1)II'~lIll

of photographs.

In sum, then, Gregory Crewdson's

.u 111111111\. unt il hc hud seen it and round it wanting,

episodes;

Crcwdsori's

Story il/tern/jJtlls. Such that, if we want the whole story, we need to con-

sidcr the entire series or sequence

although

and beauty, that incompleteness,

in that sense, are not partial or unfinished

have been interrupted.

1,1111'.111
I11111
('11('11
timc out and after the fact what it
I 1111111111'1 qllil~'

clcrnr ..nr of their mystery

in grand style with full orchestra

and

like this, in a book. And we are not so much

Borrowing,

all opera

<IS

photography-"Bcneath

the

Emotions

after all. Mortality

violence,

run high throughout,

lurks sulking

with vengeance

melodramatic,

that the melodrama

and beautiful

by how bravely

or badly the characters

performance.

Roses."

It's their stoical, open-eyed

composition

note

ing the process

has gained

and exterior

lighting

from single tunes

the erotic

plots

betrayal

technicians,
hummed

'We are moved

to the

documents
entirely

stage lights,

the pictures

with

and the people

in his earliest

pictures

us, not the plight

by

smoke

machines,

for staging

it (carpenters,

the performers),

(1996-97) to his first full-scale

operas,

Wonder"

""II"

mid-1970s,

he and four friends

that

at Max's

played

Kansas

aficionados

I'OIIIl(kll II 1111111

City lind 1111'1111111

today. ()nC'I1I'IIIl'

bccn

of performing

Also, as I noted

he

aft (large

remixed

before

earlier,

has taken

up residence

repressed

since childhood,

attention

these

pictures

~11l

them,

when

ware-

of sex and a fascination

painters,

!.:tltly

in, we are less than

sustained

ullJcil ill II 1\11\

one hilS 111111"'11

11111

in that world,

1111('111111,II

Nni quitc ,Silll'l' t'hilill

require'

with

"Twil ight" (1998-2002)

to do so also.

10

human.

and nourished

SPI'

illllllll'j!

a hurtl

1'111'11'11

ilS

hear

I)f'

Somehow,
that

qllldilY

H ~',It'I

Illi,,,

outgrown as adults. YCt without: it, withuu:

(1992-97)

UIII

Ilild 11,",'11i,l II '

tery, and paradox, easy access to f'ccli IlgN

his work has evolved

to the solo arias of "Natural

ing middle agc, he was in the I1111SIliu-rul

means

the

Record-

storyboards,

1111111'11
ploll'"

two reasons. First, it points to

to completion,

by his operatic

il'S irrclcvunt

think

renowned as an artist and u tlislingllisill'd

Foro," has recently

the

and text

I don't

and power-pop

itself.

is in fact a performance.

required

he needs

and, of course,

words,

and IlOW lliis, "Ikll

York area, was glowingly reviewed ill 1~/llf'/I'l

but

of "Beneath

photographs

at

if you will. As increasingly

materials

scaffolding,

in other

from first conception

of the pictures

physical

voice to perform

not by the melodrama,

to their plight that moves

the process

set designers,

to the cham ber music of "Hover"

of being

(2002),

so far.

Finally,

right and

has been accused

to it. We are moved,

part of the preparation-rehearsals,

sets, elaborate

at stage

the human

who populate

meticulously

recording

over and access

masterpiece

regret. It's an opera,

and fear and

of encouraging

the characters
response

houses filled with props and costumes)

gaffers,

means

that the final exhibition

is an integral

control

while

on stage respond

that Crewdson

of his pictures,

and this, too, suggests

longing

tone, and timbre.

And so it is with

We might

indoor

pitch,

and "1)re3111 l louxc"

made of opera, but those of us who love opera understand

a necessary

its most moving

their

especially

in the wings

commonly

is merely

and

of realism and makes no effort to disguise its

on its mind, awaits its turn to enter. Crewdson

an accusation

painting,

taken as a whole, is a highly contrived, arbitrary-seeming

ROS(;S,!l

narrative, staged in a way that both tests the limits

artificiality,

film, theater,

docs, from every medium-fiction,

I Ii

hlllIJ',1I

by 111I1I111
III' IlIillll III

11 1\'"1\"

fiction, film, theater, painting, and

IIll'dilllll

t II 11'1 Ii \\

and "Dream

hnk-, i~ II highly contrived, arbitrary-seeming

11111111111'
III' rculixm and makes no effort

to

I louse" (2002), and now this, "Beneath

the Roses," which we might consider

masterpiece so far.

disguise its

Finally, I don't think it's irrelevant

to

mention that long before Gregory Crewdson

III, I '11I'I'ililly 11I1l>\ingand rear and regret. It's an opera,

renowned

\ 1111','1lIlil,' rhc erotic plots betrayal at stage right and

ing middle age, he was in the most literal sense a performer.

III; "'

11111
I ru crucr. Crcwdson has been accused of being

11'1111'.'""I'olld

the pictures of "Beneath

pHIIT~~

cm.irclv

with photographs

the

]III IIIIIIIIiII II

I ]llly,il'lIl materials required

he

by his operatic aft (large

111,.111
'. "'11 l'I'olding, smoke mach ines, storyboards,
.un.l, III'I'OUrSe,the performers),

by fans

most popular songs, "Let Me Take Your

two reasons.

from strangers

First, it points to an early impulse

to evoke strong emotions

this for
by

before them, albeit in a way that could not last much beyond adolescence.

in that world, one finds oneself feeling emotions

repressed

since childhood.

attention

these pictures

of sex and a fascination

,11111'11l'11pk;II,; needs for staging it (carpenters, painters,

group

following in the New

in Variety, and made records that are still treasured

Not quite since childhood,

require-a

pictures, when one

that have been lost or

Since adolescence,

perhaps. The kind of

hard focus on the details, an openness

tery, and paradox, easy access to feelings of regret and loss and loneliness,

ware-

power-pop

I mention

has taken up residence

Record-

in Brooklyn in the

a post-punk,

Also, as I noted earl ier, when one has looked long and closely at Crewdson's

from first conception to completion,

rehearsals, if you will. As increasingly

As a teenager

enter-

Foto," has recently been remixed and used in a TV ad for Hewlett-Packard.

means of performing

and text the

1IIIIIIIIIII'II1c pictures is in facta performance.

a band, the Speedies,

and power-pop aficionados today. One of the Speedies'

1IIIIIl'il' pliglll that moves us, not the plight itself.

Iii olllll,ly documents

,

but

to it, Wc arc moved, in other words, by

11111111111"
IVllo populate

"'"

York area, was glowingly reviewed

became

professor at Yale, a married father respectably

that played at Max's Kansas City and the Bottom Line, had a devoted

.III ...01't'lll'()III':1ging the human voice to perform at

, uul 11111111(',
W,; urc moved not by the melodrama,

as an artist and a distinguished

mid-r qyos, he and four friends founded

1,111,111111"'111.
I)llt those of us who love opera understand
\ Ill'

his

with its heat-this

is the kind of attention

to

ambiguity,

mys-

along with a cold fear

we like

to

think we have

outgrown as adults. Yet without it, without bringing it every day of our lives to the world we live

his work has evolved

in, we are less than human. Somehow, by making his amazing pictures,

]IIIIIIII" 1111
he solo arias of "Natural Wonder" (1992-97)

sustained

'II) 111111,
lirsl. full-scale operas, "Twilight"

to do so also.

(1998-2002)

10

and nourished

that quality of mind and has made it possible

Gregory Crewdson

has

for us, his audience,