Gregory Crewdson. Retrospective

Summary

The speaker reflects on their artistic journey, emphasizing the search for personal truth and beauty in their photography. They explore the blurred lines between reality and fiction, aiming for a timeless, psychological depth in their images. Influenced by their father's psychoanalytic background, the artist delves into human emotions such as longing, sadness, and regret. The photographs are meant to exist in a state of 'in-between,' capturing moments of stillness and revelation, while avoiding contemporary markers to maintain a timeless quality. The exhibition showcases the evolution and consistency of their work over time, revealing an uncanny blend of the familiar and mysterious.

Takeaways

• 🌟 The artist's vision is to capture the beauty of the world in form, detail, light, and atmosphere, reflecting a personal experience and truth.
• 🔍 The artist's photographs are a search for meaning, exploring everyday life to find significance and beauty that can only be hinted at in each image.
• 🎨 The artist aims for a blur between reality and fiction, valuing a personal truth over objective reality in their work.
• 📚 Influenced by a psychoanalyst father, the artist's work often explores psychological themes of longing, sadness, and regret.
• 🔄 The artist is interested in oppositions and tensions, such as truth vs. fiction, nature vs. artifice, and light vs. darkness.
• 🕰 The artist's photographs aim to exist outside of time, avoiding contemporary markers to create a timeless feel.
• 🌌 The artist's work plays with the concept of time, focusing on moments of stillness and emptiness that suggest a narrative between before and after.
• 👨‍🎓 The exhibition showcases the artist's work from their entire career, reflecting changes and consistencies in their core interests.
• 🔮 The artist is fascinated by the uncanny, finding mystery and beauty in the familiar, and exploring themes of fear and desire.
• 🔄 Despite evolving over time, the artist's work remains constant in its exploration of personal psychological themes and motifs.
• 🌆 The artist's photographs are made in twilight, symbolizing the in-between spaces of light and darkness, beginning and end.

Q & A

What is the photographer's vision of the world in terms of their artwork?

The photographer envisions the world as beautiful in form, with a focus on detail, light, atmosphere, and weather, reflecting a personal experience in iconography.

What does the photographer describe as the fundamental level of their photographs?

The photographer describes their photographs as a search for meaning, an attempt to find something significant and beautiful in everyday life.

Why does the photographer believe that any picture can only hint at its exact meaning?

The photographer believes this because the ultimate meaning is always elusive and requires continuous searching and creating of new pictures to approach.

What is the intended blur in the photographer's pictures?

The intended blur is between the real and the fiction, reflecting the photographer's interest in something literary, poetic, and cinematic rather than objective documentation.

What is the photographer's stance on objective truth in photography?

The photographer is not interested in objective truth, instead, they are more interested in expressing personal truth through their photographs.

What types of oppositions and tensions are important in the photographer's work?

Oppositions and tensions such as truth and fiction, nature and artifice, sadness and beauty, normality and paranormality, and light and darkness are important in the photographer's work.

How does the photographer's father's profession influence their work?

The photographer's father was a psychoanalyst, which influences the psychological aspects of the subjects in the photographs, often reflecting a sense of longing, sadness, and regret.

What does the photographer aim to achieve with the sense of separation and detachment in their images?

The photographer aims to create a sense of longing and a psychological image that exists outside of time, disconnected from contemporary life but still reflecting it.

Why does the photographer avoid including contemporary elements like cell phones or cars in their work?

The photographer wants their pictures to exist in a timeless world, avoiding any elements that would date them to a specific moment in time.

How does the photographer describe the narrative of their pictures?

The narrative of the pictures is described as suspended between two moments, focusing on stillness, emptiness, and internal revelation rather than literal narrative.

What does the photographer find constant in their work despite changes over time?

The photographer finds that their core interests and personal themes remain constant, reflecting a psychological sense of fear or desire that is part of who they are.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 The Search for Personal Truth in Photography

The speaker discusses the essence of their photography, emphasizing the reflection of their personal vision of the world. They seek to capture beauty in form, light, and atmosphere, aiming for images that feel true to their experiences. The speaker's work is described as a search for meaning, with each photograph hinting at deeper significance. They express a preference for a blend of reality and fiction, avoiding documentation in favor of a more poetic and cinematic approach. The speaker's father's background in psychoanalysis influences their focus on the psychological aspects of their subjects, often depicting a sense of longing, sadness, and regret. The photographs are intended to exist outside of time, avoiding contemporary markers to achieve a timeless quality.

05:01

📸 The Narrative of Moments in Stillness

This paragraph delves into the narrative aspect of the speaker's photography, highlighting the suspension of moments between 'before' and 'after.' The speaker is interested in capturing stillness, emptiness, and moments of revelation that are internal rather than literal narrative. The work is described as existing in a twilight zone, between light and darkness, and embodying various oppositions such as beginning and end. The exhibition mentioned spans the speaker's entire career, reflecting changes and consistencies in their work over time. The speaker is intrigued by the uncanny, seeking mystery and beauty in the familiar, and their photographs are deeply personal, reflecting psychological fears and desires. Despite exploring different themes, the core interests and sensibilities remain constant.

Keywords

💡Personal Vision

Personal Vision refers to an individual's unique perspective or interpretation of the world. In the video's context, it is the artist's own particular way of seeing the world, which is reflected in the form and detail of their work. The artist's photographs are an expression of this vision, capturing a sense of beauty, light, and atmosphere that resonates with their personal experiences.

💡Elusive

Elusive describes something that is difficult to define or pin down. The artist mentions that their search for meaning in their photographs is elusive, suggesting that they are looking for something that is not easily captured or understood. This concept is central to the video's theme, as it highlights the ongoing, exploratory nature of the artist's work.

💡Iconography

Iconography is the study of symbols and their meanings. In the video, the artist is looking for something elusive in their photographs, which implies a deeper layer of meaning beyond the surface. This could be seen as an exploration of iconography, where the artist is trying to uncover and convey symbolic significance within everyday life.

💡Narrative

Narrative refers to a story or a sequence of events. The artist discusses the narrative of their photographs, noting that unlike other forms of storytelling, a photograph is suspended between two moments. This creates a sense of stillness and emptiness, inviting the viewer to engage with the image and imagine the story that lies before and after the captured moment.

💡Oppositions and Tensions

Oppositions and tensions refer to the juxtaposition of contrasting elements or ideas. The artist is interested in these dynamics within their work, such as truth and fiction, nature and artifice, and light and darkness. These oppositions create a sense of intrigue and depth, challenging the viewer to consider multiple perspectives and interpretations.

💡Psychoanalyst

A psychoanalyst is a mental health professional who practices psychoanalysis. The artist's father was a psychoanalyst, which may have influenced the artist's approach to exploring the psychological aspects of their subjects. The video mentions the psychological image, indicating a focus on the inner world and emotional states of the subjects.

💡Uncanny

The uncanny is a feeling of eeriness or strangeness, often associated with something that is both familiar and unfamiliar. The artist is interested in the uncanny, seeking to find mystery and beauty in what appears to be ordinary. This concept is integral to the video's theme, as it speaks to the artist's desire to uncover the extraordinary within the mundane.

💡Stillness

Stillness refers to a state of calm or lack of movement. The artist describes their photographs as moments of stillness, suggesting a pause in time where the viewer can reflect and find a moment of revelation. This concept is related to the video's theme of capturing moments that exist between before and after.

💡Timelessness

Timelessness is the quality of being unaffected by time or remaining relevant across time. The artist wants their photographs to exist outside of time, avoiding contemporary markers like cell phones or cars. This pursuit of timelessness allows the images to feel both familiar and slightly disconnected, inviting the viewer to consider themes that transcend specific moments in time.

💡Twilight

Twilight refers to the time of day when the sun is just below the horizon, creating a soft, transitional light. The artist mentions that their pictures reside in an 'always twilight,' symbolizing the in-between state that is a central theme of the video. This could be interpreted as a metaphor for the balance between light and darkness, beginning and end, or other opposing forces.

💡Consistency

Consistency refers to the state of being unchanging or uniform. The artist reflects on how their work has evolved over time, noting a connection to their life and art that remains consistent despite changes. This concept is important in the video's narrative, as it highlights the enduring nature of the artist's core interests and sensibilities.

Highlights

The artist seeks to capture a personal vision of the world that is beautiful in form, light, atmosphere, and weather.

The artist's photographs are a search for meaning, exploring everyday life to find significance and beauty.

Every picture hints at meaning but cannot fully express it, necessitating the creation of more images to continue the search.

The artist aims to blur the line between reality and fiction in their work.

The artist is not interested in documentation or objective truth, but rather in a literary, poetic, and cinematic approach.

Photographs cannot express objective reality but can convey a personal truth.

Oppositions and tensions, such as truth vs. fiction and nature vs. artifice, are central to the artist's work.

The artist's father's background in psychoanalysis influences the psychological aspects of the subjects in the photographs.

The subjects in the photographs often convey a sense of longing, sadness, and regret, reflecting human instincts and behaviors.

The artist is interested in creating a psychological image with a sense of separation, detachment, and longing.

The photographs are intended to exist outside of time, without reflecting any specific moment.

The artist avoids including contemporary elements to create a timeless feel in the photographs.

The photographs exist between moments, embodying stillness, emptiness, and internal revelation.

The exhibition showcases work from the artist's entire career, reflecting both change and consistency in their core interests.

The artist's work is very personal, reflecting psychological fears and desires that are part of their identity.

The artist is drawn to the uncanny, finding mystery and beauty in the familiar.

Despite exploring different themes and motifs, the artist's work remains consistent, reflecting a core sensibility.

Transcripts

[Music]

the most important thing is that it

reflects my own sort of particular

vision of the world that they are

beautiful in terms of the form that um

they're feel with detail that there's a

beautiful sense of light and atmosphere

and weather um and that in some way or

another they feel true to my own

personal kind of uh experience in

iconography what I'm looking for is

something very elusive that like if I

knew exactly what I was looking for I

wouldn't have to make the pictures so I

think at some fundamental level my

photographs are about a search for me

meaning about trying to look into

everyday life and try to find something

that feels important and significant and

beautiful but any picture can only hint

at what it is exactly because that's why

you have to make another one you have to

continuing search to try to find the

ultimate meaning which is always outside

of your grasp

[Music]

so in my pictures I hope there's a blur

between the real and the fiction and

that's something that always has

interested me I'm not really interested

in

documentation I'm not interested in

objective truth I'm much more interested

in something literary and poetic and

cinematic and photographic you can't

make a photograph that like actually

expresses an objective reality you can

only make pictures that feel that they

come to your own personal truth

I'm very interested in oppositions and

tensions I really want different levels

of um oppositions to exist to my work so

like truth and fiction this an

interesting one nature and

artifice sadness and

Beauty uh normality and

paranormality light and darkness all of

these tensions are really important to I

think almost every picture I've made my

father was a psychoanalyst in fact he

was uh came from a Freudian background

so it's great that this show is in

Vienna and I always look at um the

psychology of the subjects in the

pictures uh as somewhat connected to my

own that there's um they're usually

searching for something there there's a

sense of sad there's a sense of longing

there's a sense of

regret these are all very human

instincts and um

behaviors and that's part of how my work

plays out um I'm really interested in

the psychological image so there's

always a sense of

separation of Detachment but also

longing

I want the pictures to exist outside of

time they don't really reflect any

moment I want them to feel

like

um familiar but like slightly

disconnected from any sort of

contemporary moment I want them to exist

more in a Timeless world uh so that's

why I don't like put cell phones or

contemporary cars or like anything that

feels like of the moment I want them to

pictures to exist um in a kind of more

disconnected from our everyday life sort

of separated from contemporary life but

also reflects contemporary life at the

same

[Music]

time all of my pictures exist between

before and after so unlike a movie or

literature or any other narrative

form uh a photograph is suspended

between um two moments and that's really

what I'm interested in terms of The

Narrative of the pictures that like

almost nothing is actually happening in

my pictures it's usually a moment of

Stillness uh a moment of emptiness a

moment of revelation of some sort but

it's all internal so there's not a lot

of literal narrative it's

between um the before and the after and

I hope that my pictures kind of reside

in that always even

Twilight um when these pictures are made

it's between light and darkness it's

between before and after it's between

the beginning and the end it's just

always in between those different

oppositions

this um exhibition

has uh work from I guess my

entire uh working

life um all the way back from when I was

in Graduate

School uh so it's amazing to look at the

different bodies of work and think about

like um one's life and how the pictures

change over time but also remain

consistent with my sort of

core um interest from when I was in my

20s and uh so there's a connection to my

life but also a connection to my art and

I feel like the lesson there is that um

you can't really get away from yourself

so I'm very interested in what I would

call The Uncanny is trying to find

Mystery and um and Beauty in um

something that on the surface feels very

familiar to

you the pictures at the core are very

personal that they reflect a kind

of uh

psychological sense of fear or desire

that are part of who I am you always

cirle around similar themes and motifs

and as much as you try to like um push

away from the core interests or the core

sensibility uh it all remains very

constant and some more

[Music]

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