in small towns of Massachusetts/America that were made into a documentary
which just this past January showed in Houston, TX
at the MFA H
http://www.mfah.org/films/gregory-crewdson-brief-encounters/
and I missed it
I read this after the fact in March
in Culture Map Houston...
http://houston.culturemap.com/eventdetail/houston-premieres-screening-gregory-crewdson-brief/
when I found the webpage I then found out that it will not be showing in LA
(as in Louisiana) at all this year looks like - unless something changes
http://www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com/
this makes me sad, I have missed it in TX & now no chance most likely in LA
I want this movie to come to LA, if not Lafayette then New Orleans (aka NOLA--no matter how that abbreviation drives locals mad I like it...)
photo credit from mfah.org webpage...courtesy of Zeitgeist Films
I haven't yet decided if it makes me feel like a David Lynch film does
or a "Norman Rockwell meets Norman Bates" image
(as his work has for real been described with this fitting phrase--think Psycho, the movie...)
or if I possibly question is it art? is it photography? is it surreal?
(when I read he doesn't actually use a camera, other folks now push that button)
photo credit: wikipedia 2007 on location in Pittsfield, MA
but I have questions--so I watched the YouTubes, I am still fascinated...
And I may one day flip thru the one Art book of his or I may one day see a gallery showing of a set of his photographs (he is afterall only 50 yrs old)
I am still perplexed how I can know about Diane Arbus & Norman Rockwell & David Lynch & yet...I don't think I've ever known about Gregory Crewdson & his photography--is it because I'm a Southerner that I missed out? I just don't know but it's curious when someone this (so said) big slips by you (even 'with' the internet...or that is until now?!)
Houston Premiers - Gregory Credson: Brief Encounters...
http://www.mfah.org/films/gregory-crewdson-brief-encounters/
"The meticulously composed, large-scale images of photographer Gregory Crewdson are stunning, psychological narratives of small-town American life. Shot over a decade, this documentary follows the artist during the elaborate process of staging his shoots using set-ups as complicated as moviemaking. Crewdson discusses his family background and his influences, who include Diane Arbus, Edward Hopper, and David Lynch. Speaking about his creative process, Crewdson observes, 'the whole act of making art is an act of faith.' "
“A brilliant new documentary about the work of one of America’s greatest living photographers.” —Flash Magazine (UK)
“A brilliant new documentary about the work of one of America’s greatest living photographers.” —Flash Magazine (UK)
Gregory Crewdson Movie - Brief Encounters - Documentary by Ben Shapiro...
http://www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com/
(a 10 year quest...time is in the eyes of the beholder...it says it's showing Nationwide & then going Global--Well, somebody doesn't think Louisiana is in the Nation then...nor Global, because nowhere on the Screenings list do I see it coming here--to Lafayette or New Orleans or where ever else nearby...)
Gregory Crewdson Wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Crewdson
(one can only imagine what it must feel like to have a whole Wiki entry written about you)
YouTube - Gregory Crewdson Brief Encounters Trailer 2012 Photographer Documentary Movie...
http://youtu.be/FlU9yvu3u7A
Director - Ben Shapiro
29:48 radio interview of Ben Shapiro & Gregory Crewdson on BBox Radio - Nov 3, 2012...
http://www.bboxradio.com/filmwax-radio/1255-filmmaker-ben-shapiro-and-photographer-gregory-crewdson.html (that's Brooklyn Community Radio - Filmwax Radio #1255...the interviewer & Gregory went to summer camp together--jumping off Tushy Rock, skinny dipping...ah memories from like 40 yrs ago...)
YouTube - Gregory Crewdson by Close Up...
http://youtu.be/Z5hpPYabi94
(Keep watching after the beginning in a foreign language, think it's Dutch - also you can ignore the subtitles along the way too, as it's 53:02 min's long - have to wonder if this might be the whole documentary right here on YouTube?! no, looked that up--it's 79 min's the whole thing) #avrocloseup
what I gathered from watching the video...
some prints go for $125,000 a print - mentions that could be the cost of an Indie Movie for just one print
and he tries to long distance swim, curious, but then could it be just another form of meditation--instead of a walking meditation (which I've done at a Zen Center before) it's a swimming meditation...he mentions getting lost in a rhythm - which in regards to water I'll find at times in faucet water running as I wash a lot of dishes, you can get lost in the rhythm & it sends your mind off elsewhere (to your imagination, to images...) then it's good for ideas or when you're working something out (like it bubbles up to the surface, if you're distracted physically/bodily with some kind of activity...)
for him it sounds like it's definitely the devil's in the details, all the details, someone mentions could be a 1,000 details in one print/one shot, all of which he's made some decision about... (aka "marvilously obsessive" she says...) another would like to time how long folks will stand in front of one of his prints... (as I'm mesmerized by a tiny online photo of Beneath the Roses I can imagine I could also stand a long while in front of it for real..)
Beneath the Roses
dynamic between beauty and sadness
his photographs are grounded in a psychology...oddly enough, or not, his father was a psychoanalyst
so he understood the psychological power & urgency that a photograph could have...that sense of awe & terror...at 10 yrs old being taken to a gallery showing of Diane Arbus black & white photographs at MOMA by this father...
Diane Arbus Wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Arbus
photo credit: Wikipedia - Diane Arbus - Eddie Carmel & Parents
Diane Arbus Photography...webpage...where you can flip thru her black & white photographs...
http://diane-arbus-photography.com/
(pg 83 backyard family, maybe, man, woman, sunbathing, child, wading pool...would love to take that on as a writing exercise...tho Gregory Crewdson in his documentary mentions the Giant in the living room--pg 87...am guessing I can't copy/paste these other black & white photos that aren't over on Wikipedia...)
usually it takes 2 days to make his photos - at twilight - where they can use the lights - for his search for a 'perfect moment' in a way... that perfect 'still' moment...& in that instance he thinks his life makes sense...
The Speedies...Let me take your photo, photograph song...his HS/teen band...for a yr of NY success...then 25 yrs later HP uses it for a commercial (I've watched those on TV & never knew...)
Here you can watch the so called 'punk rock' band sing the song for yourself...from 1979--talk about a blast from the past...Let me take your photo...
http://youtu.be/x8XluynKckE
And someone guessing who the band/song was for the HP commerical...
http://www.palebear.com/let-me-take-your-photo-the-speedies-hp-commercial/2005/
(so then Gregory Crewdson was most likely Greg Zap...funny he didn't mention that tiny detail in current documentary/videos/interviews or that I've found, yet--we loved Frank Zappa at our house too, so can well relate to a shorter version of Zap...or was he after something totally different & more 'electric' or 'shocking' maybe...hmm...one will never know unless some crazed interviewer decides to go off the charts & 'not' talk about his current art/photographs/process & goes dig way/Way back when to ask him about his HS band stage/fake name while he was living in Brooklyn as a teen...)
About those HP Commericals...Pictures of You by the Kinks to start...or the You + hp campaign...included: Road Trip, while a women is dressed, which features The Speedies--Let me take your photo song...
http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2006/hp-pictures-of-you/
And the YouTube of the HP Commercial--Road Trip...
http://youtu.be/5M4EoHdPCXI
never under estimate the power/pull of a girl...so the boy takes a photography class because she's into photography...
at Yale program of doc photogrpahy tradition while in NY galleries he was seeing Cindy Sherman/Laurie Simmons & others in galleries...using fictions & constructs...
then he watched the movie Blue Velvet by David Lynch (I've seen that movie & we're not talking that National Velvet/goodie two shoes kind of movie mind you either...)
to refresh yourself of David Lynch...the Blue Velvet trailer...teaser...1986...
http://youtu.be/fQA0OWJiios
(adore Isabella Rossellini...)
like Hopper returns to the same places over & over...look for the setting to tell one of his stories... location scouting--without a camera, keeps in his head...a vantage point...
my fav of Edward Hopper - Nighthawks...I know it's popular, but still am drawn in by it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawks
photo credit: Wikipedia
Nighthawks - Edward Hopper - 1942
a haunted quality...to these small abandoned towns (like Lee, Pittsfield--MA...) that are captured in these photographs...
in a cabin around where he came as a kid during summers he's dreaming of floating--so he takes his perspective up, looking down from what I call a cherry picker (tho he didn't call it that) for a series of roads with what he calls intersections (but we're not talking crossroads here...)
cinematic quality to his photographs...starts messing with lighting...
33:15...a stop you in your tracks kind of photo...lady in her living room is floating...Ophelia...on a soundstage--for the first time...connecting photography & film...Hitchcock...an intersection of everyday life & some sense of theatricality...
writers like works that are narrative--Gregs work is narrative...
focus on that moment & make it as beautiful & mysterious as possible...
Brief Encounters...were not brief in the making of them by any calculation...
feels that every artist has one central story to tell...struggle...tell & retell that story...challenge...at the core that story remains the same...it's like the defining story of who you are...
YouTube 27:35 (they abound & not in any short versions it seems of this man's art work...) Gregory Crewdson's Photography Capturing a Movie Frame/Art in Progress/Reserve Channel...
http://youtu.be/S7CvoTtus34
YouTube 8:49 (finally a short one) Gregory Crewdson Speaks with Artist Profile...
http://youtu.be/uQy4uiS6iKw
Q&A:
What are you trying to convey thru your photographs?
What role does narrative play in your work?
Which artists, writers & filmmakers have most influenced you?
Can you take us through the process of creating your pictures?
Tell us about the relationship between the figure & the landscape setting?
What led you to make your most recent series: 'Sanctuary?'
What's next for you on the creative front?
YouTube 2:12 Gregory Crewdson Norman Rockwell Moment...
http://youtu.be/KaW9Cs6jn48
(at Norman Rockwell's museum showing comparing his paintings to his photographic sources...since Gregory Crewdson's work has been described as Norman Rockwell meets Norman Bates...)
I esp adore Norman Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post Cover/painting/to be poster/so often used & reused..."Rosie the Riveter"...(tho mostly I remember "Rosie the Riveter" from the Westinghouse poster by J. Howard Miller famously entitled: "We Can Do It")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter
YouTube 6:00...Twilight (Photographs by Gregory Crewdson)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXkgpr6y5_I&feature=share&list=PLEFF7BB4AF3F18334
(one of the rare videos where it's just his photos set to music...his one art book has the same title--not ever to be confused with the sparklely vampire teen books/movies...sadly what that has done to the word: twilight...can I live long enough for it never to be remembered as only that first book of the vampire series?!)
YouTube 5:34 ...by DevelopPhoto...Ovation TV Closeup...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RywAfP4KFcY&feature=share&list=PLEFF7BB4AF3F18334
(comments...include: ...artsy fartsy...circus act...)
Amazon.com - Book - Twilight - Photographer: Gregory Crewdson - Author: Rick Moody...
http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Photographs-Crewdson-Rick-Moody/dp/0810910039
(only $29.42...which for an Art/Coffeetable size book I'm guessing that this is it's then rather a surprise price...)
Publication Date May 1, 2002
"Crewdson's most recent series of photographs, Twilight, are created as
elaborately constructed film stills, catching the mysterious moment of time
between before and after, revealing unknowable or unimaginable aspects of
domestic reality. A cow lies on its back on the lawn between two houses while
firemen secure the area and a man searches the sky. Could the cow have rained
down from above? In another image stacks and stacks of inedible slices of bread
- bearing an odd resemblance to the mysterious monoliths at Stonehenge - are
watched over by a gathering of birds. Both entirely foreign and oddly familiar,
these images are carefully orchestrated events that challenge our very notions
of familiarity, undermining our sense of certainty. These eerie and evocative
photographs pair beauty with horror, obsession with disgust, and the real with
the surreal, suggesting narratives open to endless interpretations. The book
includes an essay written by fiction writer Rick Moody. The book and exhibitions
are comprised of the forty images from his Twilight series which was begun in
1998 - these exhibitions and this book chronicle the completion of the series
and mark the first time it will be seen in its entirety."
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