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at illH10as of womon flooting,

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Wl!ll

unoarth
in a living

room, \0 imagine Gregory Crswdson listening, on the one hand, 10 the record
ings of the early Patti Smith or the Ramones on tile record player in his room,
and, on the other hand, listening to the overheard interpretation
this interpretation

of dreams, as

is practiced downstairs in the study of his father, interpreta

tion as practiced in the lives of loveless wives and frustrated husbands of Park
Slope, interpretation

brought to bear upon the obsessions and compulsions of

everyday lite, these colliding with, the raw material of the LPs on the JVC
turntable. Crewdson has remarked that he was never interested in documentary photos at all, even in his student days, and it's not hard to imagine that this
indeed is the case, at least considered in this warm first light of day. He came
late to the form, he was well into his college education, so that the debate on
what exactly a photograph was, on whether it was doomed to re-create the
actual or, on the other hand, whether it was open to the extenuations that Cindy
Sherman or Barbara Kruger brought to the medium, this was all settled. It was
settled tor Gregory Crewdson

N GI'\I GORY CREWDSON

A childhood

of overhearing

the dreams of his

neighbors had already made the actual magical, made the space of the urban
and suburban into an unearthly and terrifying arena of possibility.
Which may be why Crewdson prefers Freud's essay on the uncanny to

The Interpretation of Dreams. Wherein the master remarks that the uncanny is
something which ought to have remained hidden but has come to light. The
sessions in Crewdson's father's practice ought to have remained private, but

1.

pnvacv is always mottled, always imperfect, and there's a way in which the

As 110soften been observed, Gregory Crswdson's

with

particular

Brooklyn

interest in Freudian analysis. This would have been in the

of Crewdson's

childhood,

Park Slope before it was Park Slope, or

Park Slope fit uie dawn of its present identity, a neighborhood

por nmbulators

recondite thing is always observed, always in the process of flowering forth

father was a psychiatrist

and health-food

crowded with

stores, places to buy Tibetan rugs. Crewdson

find his siblings Michael and Natasha lived with their happily married parents
[Ctuolo Cruwdson, tho mother in the story, was and is an instructor

in the

Aloxondor

in the

lochniqllo).

and Crowdson's

IWI/so, such thm Grogory

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from its concealed

space to become the property

of the public. Thus,

Crewdson also had his first romantic escapades on his father's couch. The
couch of psychoanalysis.

While it's invasive to dwell overlong on this image (it

ought to remain hidden), it is useful in the context of his photographs to allow

Gregory to be there for a moment, with, let's say, his first really big crush, trying to figure out what to do with her. What are these various bodily parts that
ho has only dimly glimpsed in the past, and how to do it, how to encounter her
body, ethically, physically, gently, gentlemanly, on thai couch, where dreams
nnd Illoil onigmas ArO anatornized [ust out of onrshor. so tilol cortain oneiric
itlHlfJOR

suck, adrnlxod in hrs nnotoscom IlIl(i1ll1l11l11l1Hi (II(:olloGIIOn, such that

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embarked

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unimportant

Hid

uu

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apparently

itl'

retrospective

in 1972, turn

III. UII"IIII1I01. Maybe in the dream register, a~

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101

i.,

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wut:

cultural

fJllrl are like the seeds of morning

IHlll10 other all-consuming

vine, they

of dress,

in that they

of that moment, checkerboard

lots

of artificial

fabrics,

sweat-

etc,

Gregory

Crewdson played rhythm guitar and wrote or coWhile his

guitar playing on the track that I heard by the

Speedies was agile and competent, the lead guitar

activity, nothing more,

ton year-ole! entertained

in the matter

wrote many of the band's compositions,

are, from the paternal stand-

uttomoon

Formed whon

playod while a taenaqer,

designers

import of

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Crswdson

dressed entirely in the playful and hideous Italian

I 'II wnuu, III twelve, I reael it at the instigation

IIV

ttl II

band in which

excesses

lit oil? No, ho probably did not. as

ulk
, III

Tho Spaodios woro tho rockannroll

he was sixteen, in 1979, the Speedics were qiven to

lit tlVllll1110 photographs of his earlier work,

ttl II

1111

3,

IlIlliUI\(lku

player in the band (called Eric Hoffert, who now

sweater

seems

almost

standing

in front of his old man, Only the father

looks at the photographer,

knowing engagement.

deranged
with

somehow,

a passive

but

Maybe this iconic son res-

onated with the young Crewdson,

who couldn't

works

as a software

spectacular,

developer

and the relationship

for Apple) was

between the two

guitar players was really interesting, sort of in that

way that the relationship between the guitars in the
Voidoids was interesting, Of in Television, the band

have been much older himself, so that the unearthly

featuring Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, Clearly,

light that haloes the father made some impression

these late seventies

on him, likewise the eccentricity

were much in the minds of Hoffert and Crewdson,

family,

perhaps

a fanciful

of the Brooklyn

interpretation

of the

the architects of the band, To such a degree, in fact,

sud-

that the producer of the band's second single was

Crewdson family itself, so that photography,

denly, in this spectatorial
about an exact reproduction

setting,

models of the popular song

is not at all

Clem Burke, the drummer for Blondie. There's a

of the truth, but is

pretty good Blondie-esque drum break at the end of

'",

11111\lrl~IVO
aspect to them but only if you nick

rather a dramatization

of something which ought

the song, and the riff in the verse sounds a lot like

!til

II III xuuk thorn overnight. What photographs

to have remained hidden, The uncanny aspect of

Lance Loud's band from the period, the Mumps,

III

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hnvo seon at the 1972 retrospective?

is fleeting; it seems to render the

Leaving aside the design of the sleeve for the single,

onus, no doubt, but what if he had

Crewdson family, in Illy imagined version, only in

which can't help but recall such New Wave video

PHiB unru of A YOl/ng Brooklyn Fnmily

rhe interval of the flash bulb, because Gl'egory

stars as Scandal

recoqnlzos

in

which makes Gregory Crewdson look like he's sort

and

of proto-Ran or Night Ranger, what is impOIlOlll in

1I, ....'III/(/IlY

Oliling,

1IIIII,ull IIl1il1(J on

fl

1966, What if Crewdson

Sunday outing with his

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the photograph

that his dad, who saw something

ths young Grogory

opprociato

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that would

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Ivou don't hoar Crowdson

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efforts on Crawdson's behalf with respect to the

medium of his profession
relationship

between

and yet perhaps

the primitive

libidinal

the

energy

of the Punk/New Wave ethos of New York City in

the late seventies and the medium of photography
is implicit

in Crewdson's

first celebrated

"Let Me Take Your Foto," therefore,

suggest,

4,

is about how you get chicks, and that

seemed to be part of Crewdson's

late seventies,

ambition

in the

the whole rock thing, playing Max's

Art school. SUNY Purchase, 1981-85, directly after the rock-and-roll

I ever had. A student appeared

in my writing

workshop

Kansas City and the Mudd Club, and opening forthe

button piercing?

among other co!lections

much dyed hair and many plaid flannels

in evidence

up

social

industrial.

teenagers

Undertones,
"Teenage

turning
of course,

Kicks"),

vans. Apparently,
undoing

pop,

their

wrote

driving

guitars

the really

from town

the rigors of touring

of the Speedies,

who wanted

who wanted

to be as popular

(the

splendid

to town

in

proved the
to be

pure

as a breakfast

cereal, so much so that they actually wrote

called "We Want to Be Your Breakfast

a song

Cereal." The

After which she pulled up her shirt to display the raw, red wound for a\1to see. There was

with my class, were cinderblock,

was said,
which

a sniper tower

at SUNY Purchase,

position the authorities

1992),

(this was

It was said, at SUNY Purchase,

to be impervious

remained hidden,
students
students,

by means of architecture,

created

such fertile

as with the contempt

and faculty.

Meanwhile,

imaginings.

A sniper tower

implicit in relations

while I was there, there was a tremendous

or so I was told. It was that kind of place, part of the suburban

an urban disorder,

happens that Hal Hartley, of the excellent

When you are older, of course, complexity

forbids

campus, at film school, at about the same time as Gregory Crewdson.

such

of the

some resemblance

the

drummer

Speedies is now a lawyer, and the singer works for

resection

the phone company. When you are an adult, taking

of metaphor,

someone's

fota

is no longer libidinous

way. And that's why the twilight

in the same

photographs

we

have before us both seem to be easy to interpret

was something

between the generations,

and meaning in three minutes and forty-five seconds.

why

to take down protestors,

mainly of the students,

Trust

and

undergird

of course,

Surviving Desire

ideal, where dream strategies,

the here and now. In

images-the

contours

Trust,

Yet if Crewdson's

art school experiences

explosions,

Trust,

is also involved with the

and displacement,

Crewdson

of pollution,

and forty-five

picker photos from

1996-97.

seem to be the catalytic

especially

in the work of

hover

That is: the natural landscape

decay, etc.

agent in his transformation

(sic), Crewdson's

of western

the

and so forth.

off point for his photographs,

minutes

want to look at it anymore.

the action

images-especially

a photograph

out in three

It

In this light, perhaps, we can see

rhythm guitarist to demonic artificer, I would like to propose a far more subliminal topography

you wouldn't

with

of their habits and attitudes.

and very difficult atthe same time. If you could figure

seconds,

between

heroin problem among the

of suburbia are rent by the foregrounding

place in a Long Island that is full of grenades,

that ought to have

in relations

and other films, was also on the

like condensation

as in the earlier

of political lore

ideal, and yet overwhelmed

between these two artists, since Hartley, at his best, in

of the suburban

Natural Wonder
Trusttakes

and I'm speaking

if the

Doesn't matter if any of this is true or not, it

sixteen, when it seems possible to deliver pleasure

That's

that the campus was

to student riots. There was, it

right in the center of the campus (on top of the library), from

could threaten,

student movement did not yield to the power of the institution.

and arts education

a pizza

and the dorms, where \ had

only matters if the student body of SUNY Purchase believed it to be true, if the commingling

Speedies were what you do when you are sixteen,

things.

Hey, want to see my new bel/y-

class and said,

designed just after the high period of student oc cupations

they are how you express yourself

when you are

experience of the Speedies. I taught

there myself, about a decade after Crewdson was there, and itwas one of the happiest teaching experiences

Jam and the Undertones,

of

II

artwork.

as the lyrics

black-and-white

Massachusetts.

from

as the leaping
cherry-

When Crewdson

1""",111"

111011111101
purchased, with a group at investors, a large tract at
1
11111","1111"1of series at ponds in western Massachusetts,
not tar

III' I"WII III 1110(jusl ott the Mass Pike), and carved the parcel up into
1", " 111111
lillian

or so friends,

communally,

IIV I" II )l1,"lIno spot, Crewdson's

At the farthest

end of the

an almost minimalist

love tor its repetitions

law on the chaotic (there are lots at tiretrucks

the bear, Neighbors

moment) onlook from a safe dlstance.It

I II", .IIIY 1I11l1l1

of New England colonial

life, and this spot served as a

the philosophical

\Til"

Mno.llchusetts

I~.IIIIII'

for the photographer

with its vinyl siding and subdivisions,

11,,11Ihe old colonial

villages,

on the artificial

shots of

spaces

at

the

III Illo Natural Wonder series,

I """"

11111Itover
1"llltllllllllt:

series

01' ) "'IlW

was

light

picture

And tor me the most

centrally

concerned

about malevolent

with a
wildlife

photo of the Twilight series, the dead fox from Natural Wonder,
of ranch houses, presumably

1.11110,
I" "otagainst

from the housing boom of the early

a distant horizon of uninterrupted

parallel in driveways,

New England mountains,

A bicycle

on a lawn, an

Then in the middle of the empty road there's a standoff, A station

door open, marked

IlIlIIllIIlYlllically

representative

"dog

officer"

on its side, The driver

of the authorities},

at this car

in the street, is paused in the

IIIIIIIIIIl of some trash from an overturned garbage can, in the midst at which, in all
II' IIIIl".C.,

is a bear. The dog officer, tor his part, holds in one hand a gun, in the

perfectly

gazing at the photo of this

articulates

debates over the nature of photography,

Crewdson's spot in
being evenly divided

between the bucolic and the artificial.

A related question lingers for me: how did he find this particular location?
There are only two possibilities,

really, Either he set out driving in his car, which

should properly have been a pickup truck with a hundred thousand

and a busted tape player on the tront seat, from which
anthology

ambient

photos are often anxious

11,,"1111l some cars, perfectly

11111
.IIIIIlp,

about

01 Ihese photos is an untitled

IIlIlny Crewdson

111111
1111"lion

"'''II"Il,

of

right beside the

makes the cherry-picker

,II 11I1
.. 11111l
ond also serves as a corrective

'trW'"

from that day

now shares the house with his siblings), The landscape

at

and police cars in Crewdson's

Iwho are like us, the spectators,

built for his own family a log

, 111111
liN Hllclus;on into wilderness

the imposition

hover images), and the instant at narrative, in which the dog officer contronts

father

,,111.1IIwll"on

and simplicities,

unspooled

of punk rock classics from the early eighties including

I Reach for My Revolver"

by Mission

of Burma, in which

a wobbly

"That's When

vehicle

headed up into the hills, winding in and around the Appalachian

miles on it

Crewdson

Trail, or, and this

is the other possibility, he just knew where these plac'es were, as he knows that
Nathaniel

Hawthorne

same highlands,

once lived not far from here and looked at many at these

as he knows that Melville visited Hawthorne

might very well have climbed Monument

Crewdson's

Mountain,

domain, known for its resonant

here, where they

the peak most visible tram

Indian lore, wheretrom

lovers of

two warring tribes jumped to their doom after a union was opposed, after which
the tribes flung down things from the mountain top in order to memorialize
doomed lovers; either it's a true story, or it's a story I'm simulating,
get from the Melville who said of Hawthorne
Gregory Crewdson

who knew in his intuitive

the

in order to

"I know what his secret is," to the

method exactly where the bear

111111)(,
0 piece of Wonderbread, a trail of which stretches toward the wayward

picture would take place, in some chamber of the narrative of that place, in the

IIIIIISt. So much here is typical of Crewdscn's

conjunction

divided history as an artist, a tear

)(11110rural as well as a furious affection tor its rawness, a hatred at culture but

admixture

at the urban and the rural, the bucolic

and the artificial,

of arc lamps and ambient light, in light both particle and wave,

in the

5,
10
Apollo yanks his chariot across the skies, has done so since there was sky in
which to journey, since the Titans designated him for this assignment, and thus
he shall do until the ozone-free
fluorescences

skies are a uniform gray and are lit only by

and neons. Apollo, god of oracular prophecy and divinations. In

the first morning light we are, unless agriculturalists, asleep, or we have

waked especially for this experience, for that light which is neither entirely one
thing nor another, neither nighttime nor daytime, which brings the promise of
dawn with it It has its symbolic resonances,

the recent work of Gregory Crewdson,

but they are not the subject of

not quite. Photons can collide with

electrons and other subatornics. dusk comes in waves, like the tides, dusk is
the separation of all into spectral wavelengths, it is nature at its most artificial,
ambient light at its most perfect, such that film directors have always favored
it with their attentions, waited for it, waited for the magic hour, but also because
the poetry of retrospection always adheres to dusk, to the gloaming, to the time
when night becomes a thing to be survived, so that a woman floating over a
lawn covered with trash-that
the purifying

is, all the stuff we are trying to reject (One feels

change. One rejects/

The trash, as Wallace Stevens had it, That's

the moment when the moon creeps up/ To the bubbling

of bassoons.)-feels

lyrical, even poeticized, Or a cluster of pheasant and other game birds around
mounds of bread seems natural, like the proper eruption of the dream world in

this world, like the overheard

floorboards,

analysis of dreams, drifting

up through the

a boy levitating a strange rash from the declivity of his sister's

stomach, while coyote watch through an open door, a woman kneeling in an

indoor garden with zinnias and daisies all around her, it means something, it's
philosopher's

honeymoon, yet I leave it all to analysts of dreams to describe the

precise topology of these images. What is twilight? What is it being captured

here in general? The word first made appearance linguistically in twilighting,

in

Middle English, shortened soon thereafter in, e.g., 1440, Be-twyx the day and
the night, similarly, tweefight,

in the Dutch of the 16th century; by 1600, Hooker

in his sermon on Jude, remarks, He must haue darknes for a vision, he must
stumble

at noon daies, as at the twi-light,

Faith and twilight

is

requisite in both,

seeming

and Boyle, in Style of Scripture:

to agree in this property,

that mixture of darkness

and you can observe for yourself that Boyle is saying nothing

here of how a mixture of lightness is requisite, twilight at evening is noteworthy

for its promise of all dark things, thus, Byron, a couple hundred years later,
little

intermediate

or period, giving us such related phenomena as the

twilight

condition

light of life remains,

by extension,

At my hour of twilight,

arch, "the shadow of the earth on the atmosphere

twilight,

an

seen rising in the

eastern sky during evening twilight," likewise the famous twilight zone, which I
didn't know until now actually refers to the lowest part of the photic region of the

11

II.

III IIUI twilight band which is a particular sweet spot in the courses of
thl! IWIII{jht effect an error in radio bearings, twilight sleep, induced by

IIll1tHI IIIHI used in childbirth, twilight state, "a dreamy state lacking touch with
Hili 111!llily,occurring in epilepsy, hysteria, and schizophrenia, and sometimes

IlIIuli wllh narcotics." Perhaps here you have th"esystem of concerns reflected

thn IWlh{jhl of Gregory Crewdson, dreams, phantasms, subaquatic regions,

l"vl.11I1I shows, Rod Serlinq. schizophrenia, morphine, the poetry of Wallace
h'VUIIIf, uven a test where I learned about light from reading in the general
11111111111111
of physics: A volunteer is taken from the audience around to the back
" /h" III/)Ie by an assistant who helps the volunteer kneel or sit with the head
I'HI/lwllng

through the hole

In

the table while the demonstrator, who at this

1111/111 umutetes a magician, holds the tablecloth

in such a way as to conceal

IUIIII Ihe audience what is happening to the volunteer. A tittle patter about the
IIIlIlwiries and differences between science and magic fits in well here. A few
1/IIIIIts and groans from behind the cloth add to the drama. Finally, when the
volunteer is in place, the cloth is removed, and the audience is presented with
/III} illusion that a disembodied head is resting on the table. Everywhere the
lI\lht of twilight,
civilizations

in which the opposites

repel one another anew, in which

embrace their obverses, in which paradoxes dance wildly, twilight.

.luhuu C. Sprott, Plrysir;s Oemollsrratiolls; A Socroebooc for Toachers of Plrvsics (1996)