AMSTERDAM.- Reflex Amsterdam announces its first collaboration with the internationally acclaimed American photographer Gregory Crewdson. The focus of the solo exhibition, from 11 March until 6 May, is Crewdson’s new series of works Eveningside (2021-2022), but spans both of the gallery’s locations, and also features a selection from previous bodies of work, including Beneath the Roses (2003-2008) and Cathedral of the Pines (2013-2014). The visual artist is renowned for his cinematographically staged photographs.
In Eveningside (2021-2022), Crewdson explores moments of contemplation within the confines of quotidian life; in places of employment, and in moments just outside of those work structures. The figures populating the pictures are sparse, and are often seen through storefront windows, in mirror reflections, or positioned underneath the mundane proscenium found in the midst of their everyday routines: railroad bridges, doorways, porches, the overhanging roofline of a bank teller drive-through, a dairy bar, a corner market, or a hardware store.
Bringing his vantage point closer to the figures, using a heightened range of light and darkness, special effects such as fog, rain, smoke and haze, and for the first time using his now ubiquitous full production and lighting team in a monochromatic palette, the result is a rich gothic atmosphere, evocative of film noir and classic cinema, but with the capabilities and clarity of the most current technology available in digital photography. Eveningside comprises 20 digital pigment prints, 87.6 x 116.8 cm.
The exhibition takes place simultaneous to the adjacently located Rijksmuseum’s Johannes Vermeer show, an artist who has been an important inspiration for Crewdson, especially when conceiving his series Cathedral of the Pines (2013-2014). The current exhibition at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam offers an exciting context for Crewdson’s work, focusing on aspects of a unique sense of stillness and the wonders of the mundane.
Gregory Crewdson (1962) was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is a graduate of SUNY Purchase and the Yale School of Art, where he is now a professor and director of graduate studies in photography. His career as an artist spans more than three decades. His methodology of working with a feature-film-like lighting crew to tell a story in a single image has brought together the languages of photography and cinema, and is referenced widely in film, television, and other visual forms.
The artist has published more than a dozen books of photographs. Most recently, Eveningside was published by Gallerie d’Italia | Skira in English, French and Italian editions. Crewdson’s work is exhibited widely, and is in the permanent collections of institutions around the world. He lives and works in western Massachusetts.
