I was eager to meet Mr. Crewdson after watching his Ovation channel documentary. I find his photographs to be captivating, darkly beautiful and compelling. Many of his images take place in the suburbs-at home. My favorite of which is Ophelia from his Twilight series and is very recognizable. In the image a woman is floating in a pool of water inside her living room. The room has three windows, three photos on the wall, three stairs leading to the landing and three sources of artificial light. This image makes me think of the “housewife” archetype from the 1950’s. The woman is floating not drowning…however, the title “Ophelia” carries weight.
I asked Mr. Crewdson about this particular image and his response shifted to that of water. He mentioned that he had already swam laps in our Universities’ pool and told our class that he shapes his ideas for future projects while swimming. I thought of Simonton who told our class that some scientists cool down and recharge by doing something creative like music or creative writing…and that this aids them in their work.
I found it intriguing that Crewdson’s father was a psychologist and couldn’t help but notice that suburban family spaces are a recurring theme in many of his pieces. He quipped about trying to listen in on the sessions that his father conducted in their family basement. Crewdson didn’t talk much about his mother, which is interesting because a feminine figure (especially a mother figure) is the subject of so many of his images. If I could turn back time (and not in a Cher way) I would tactfully ask Crewdson about his mother and the reaccurance of this figure in so many images.
I also asked Crewdson about his thoughts on modern technology (Digital cameras, Photoshop etc.) I asked him this question for a number of reasons. Some of my photographer friends are very old school- they prefer working in darkrooms and spend ungodly amounts of money on different lenses and filters. Others are more technically savvy and use modern digital cameras, are happy to boycott the dark room and tweak the nobs in photoshop to fix any imperfections. Now my old school photographer friends are very nostalgic and reject more modern technology…even so far as saying that relying on computers to create art is lazy and not authentic. I asked Crewdson for his thoughts on modern technology because he seems to straddle both camps. His shoots rival movie shoots in terms of production value, yet in many of his images appear to have been squeezed through the photoshop press. His response was very pro-technology which was refreshing.
In the Ovation doc, during our class meeting and throughout his DMA lecture Crewdson nailed home his attraction to different sources of light. I imagine studios shrugging their shoulders when they receive the electric bill following a shoot. I think a psychologist could come to some interesting conclusions with this artists focus on illumination.
All in all I found his lecture well worth the headache that is the DMA parking garage. I can see why the exhibition necessitated two auditoriums and look forward to viewing future work.