PHOTO:Gregory Crewdson -Cathedral of the Pines

In his 20 years of work, the photographs of Gregory Crewdson have garnered an international following. Each series: “Twilight”, “Dream House” and “Beneath the Roses” recalls not only 19th Century American and European paintings, but also suggest a cinematic quality that was influenced by his love of vintage films. But his new exhibition transcends to a darker psychological place, exploring themes of isolation and longing.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Gagosian Gallery Archive

In 2011 Gregory Crewdson left New York to live to a remote home and studio in western Massachusetts. Coping with a difficult divorce, he found renewal in daily open-water swims and cross-country skiing on the wooded paths of the Appalachian Trail. There, he stumbled upon a trail called Cathedral of the Pines, which inspired new images. For the place he said in an interview “It was an aesthetic awakening, the trail name and the location at that moment sparked the inspiration for an entire body of work”. The series “Cathedral of the Pines” was made during three productions in and around the rural town of Becket, Massachusetts. Crewdson photographed figures in the surrounding forests, including the actual trail from which the series takes its title. Interior scenes charged with ambiguous narratives probe tensions between art, life, connection and separation, intimacy and isolation.The series comprises 31 digital pigment prints, in “Woman at Sink”, a woman pauses from her household upkeep, lost in thought. In “Pickup Truck”, Crewdson portrays a nude couple in the flatbed of a truck in a dense forest, the woman seated, the man turned away in repose. Crewdson situates his disconsolate subjects in familiar settings, yet their cryptic actions, standing still in the snow, or nude on a riverbank, hint at invisible challenges. Precisely what these challenges are, and what fate awaits these anonymous figures, are left to the viewer’s imagination. Crewdson’s photographs are elaborately staged and lit using large crews familiar with motion picture production and lighting large scenes using motion picture film equipment and techniques. But Crewdson says that “Cathedral of the Pines” presented new challenges. “We worked in total isolation. We had a small crew that worked on all three productions, dealing with unpredictable weather and extreme cold”.

Info: Gagosian Gallery, 522 West 21st Street, New York, Duration: 28/1-5/3/196, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.gagosian.com