From the moment we are born, light has guided us through the world, and has become a naturally recurring medium within the artistic realm. It has played a consistent role in defining dimensions, atmospheres and time. Gregory Crewdson utilises the medium of light within his work, transforming the everyday scenes he shoots into something theatrical and uncanny.
It is the uncanny time of twilight that becomes a pressing moment within Crewdson’s photographs, being that moment between two parallels of time where anything can happen. In order for Crewdson’s photographs to deceive his audience, he creates all of the scenes through installation. From the instant you see these haunting sets, it is hard to believe that it is all fictitious. “It is the light itself that casts the leading role” states Martin Hochleitner (2005:151), every thing seems to have been placed in the frame to gain that perfect moment of light. This is why Crewdson is extremely pedantic over the timing of the photographs. “I strive to create that perfection through obsessive detailing, through a weird kind of realist vision” (Morrow 1997). In order for Crewdson to have the most control over the light within the scene, he often captures his compositions at twilight. Twilight presents itself with its own mystique. It is a time on the edge of reality and dreams; a time that has been mined by surrealists for their practice.
It is the uncanny time of twilight that becomes a pressing moment within Crewdson’s photographs, being that moment between two parallels of time where anything can happen. In order for Crewdson’s photographs to deceive his audience, he creates all of the scenes through installation. From the instant you see these haunting sets, it is hard to believe that it is all fictitious. “It is the light itself that casts the leading role” states Martin Hochleitner (2005:151), every thing seems to have been placed in the frame to gain that perfect moment of light. This is why Crewdson is extremely pedantic over the timing of the photographs. “I strive to create that perfection through obsessive detailing, through a weird kind of realist vision” (Morrow 1997). In order for Crewdson to have the most control over the light within the scene, he often captures his compositions at twilight. Twilight presents itself with its own mystique. It is a time on the edge of reality and dreams; a time that has been mined by surrealists for their practice.