FOR WEEKLY INSPIRATION Why
Gregory Crewdson
New Photography /

Gregory Crewdson’s Beneath The Roses

As a teenager, Gregory Crewdson was part of a punk rock group called The Speedies, Park Slope rockers that hit the New York scene in the early 80s. Their hit song, Let Me Take Your Foto, proved to be prophetic for Crewdson. He is now one of the great modern photographers, who seems to picture things in his head and bring them to life. His new book, Beneath The Flowers, is an in-depth overview of the last five years of his work — which is dark, imaginative, mysterious, cinematic and always pushing the boundaries. Crewdson’s cinematic eye details loss and life-changing events in people’s lives. He is one of the few photographers out there who sets up his photoshoots like a film set, built from scratch to finish. They could be as simple as a man standing beside his car in the twilight or even a landscape portrait of a small urban American town. But Crewdson always manages to instill a sense of instability and uneasiness in you.
Gregory Crewdson

Tagged: , ,

Are you seriously using a light meter to tell how bright your computer screen is? You might as well sign up for our free weekly newsletter.
We've just launched a new website: The Colour, Australian culture in pictures. Check it out and give props to your favourite Australian artists, musicians and designers.

RELATED

Thumb

Sara Macel’s Nighttime series

Sara Macel’s Nighttime series shot around Brooklyn, New York, reminds me of the movie, 200 Cigarettes. Much like the movie, her photos have an energy of anticipation – like showing up two hours before the party gets going and then walking home at 5am before the sunrise. Read more

Thumb

The haunting imagery of Sarah Wilmer

New York photographer Sarah Wilmer creates dark, nightmare-inducing photographs that have a strange sense of innocence about them. They’re like movie stills, a cross between Lost Highway and Pan’s Labyrinth. We interviewed her recently to get the inside word on the inspirations behind her work. Read more

Thumb

Shen Wei’s Almost Naked series

In my Personal Vision class at the International Center of Photography, one of our first assignments was to photograph a classmate naked. I was paired up with a guy who wasn’t keen on the assignment (he ended up backing out due to moral issues), and the opportunity to photograph a stranger in the nude is yet to come up again. Yet! With that in mind, we interviewed New York-based, Chinese photographer Shen Wei about his series Almost Naked and how he gets through those awkward moments. Read more

Also by ARI STEIN

Thumb

Jürgen Teller for Marc Jacobs

Ten years of German photographer Jürgen Teller’s candid, glamorous photo campaigns for Marc Jacobs’ men’s and women’s collections have been collated into one cohesive 576-page fashion bible. This book does an excellent job of detailing just how significant this collaboration has been for fashion, featuring appearances from the likes of Sofia Coppola, Charlotte Rampling, Meg White, Thurston Moore, Rufus Wainwright, William Eggleston, and Winona Ryder. Read more

Thumb

Yonlu’s hidden recordings

One of the most intriguing stories I’ve come across this year is about a young artist called Yonlu, born Vinicius Gageiro Marques in the town of Porto Alegre, in Brazil. His story is short but fascinating. As it goes, this sixteen year old songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and virtual artist locked himself in his bathroom, signed on to one of the various suicide forums he belonged to on the Internet, and took his own life, remaining online until the very end. After his death, his father went through his computer and found numerous musical creations, including the songs that make up his debut album through Luaka Bop. It’s an amazing listen and very ahead of its time.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Thumb

Edgar Muller’s three-dimensional street art

Some people are talented, others are just truly remarkable. German artist Edgar Muller makes these three-dimensional apocalyptic fantasy street art in cities across the world. His work is reminiscent of that of English artist, Julian Beever. Read more

YOU'RE SAYING (3)

Gary said | 25 April, 2008

Utterly stunning. Gregory is one of the very few photographers who manages to draw me deep into his photographs; further exploring the details of them. Would love to see more of his works.

Tom said | 27 April, 2008

I saw this show in New York recently by chance and had completely forgotten who it was by, thanks for reminding me. Really powerful stuff, I’ll definitely be heading to London to catch it again.

Gary said | 2 May, 2008

I found more of Gregory’s work here: http://shapeandcolour.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/gregory-crewdson-beneath-the-roses/
They are absolutely amazing. I love his method of utilizing the lighting to bring out the essence of the photographs.

HAVE YOUR SAY




Please be sure to enter your name and email before submitting this comment. Please also refer to our comments policy.

New York-based artist Suzuki Mariko has made this handmade felt doll set of a mom and happy baby bear sitting on a sofa. At just three inches wide and two inches high, it’s perfect for your side table. It can even watch TV with you. Aw! We have it for sale in the Lost At E Minor store. Read more


ADVERTISEMENT

Ok, so this is actually an artwork by Will Cotton, but it fits every criteria for my dream house, aged 6. Smartie wall coatings? Check. Biscuit entryway? Check. A smiling lollipop garden, sitting over luscious dollops of magnificent cream? You betcha. Ah, please, take me there. Now. And give me a decent sized spoon for my troubles.

Vintage Kids Books My Kid Loves is a great resource for people looking for gift ideas or simply for those who dig the artwork in out-of-print and esoteric children’s books from years past. The author provides reviews from the perspective of a parent, not merely a hobbyist.

The song Blasphemous Rumours by Depeche Mode is just about the most dark, beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. There’s something very compelling about it all: it’s gloomy and depressing during the verses, but then this sexy, almost hypnotically melodic chorus bursts in out of nowhere. The song came out in 1984 and is reputedly based on a true story, with singer Dave Gahan concluding at the end of it all: ‘I don’t want to start any blasphemous rumours but I think that God’s got a sick sense of humour, and when I die, I expect to find Him laughing’. Brilliant.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.


ADVERTISEMENT

Yes it may be cliched to acknowledge it, but having lived for some time now down the barrel of the loaded gun that is New York, it really is difficult to be cynical — as the folk laureate Rufus Wainwright is — about this city. Read more

How many times can we play the same song in different settings? Hmmm, I don’t know. But it is a hell of a song, from a hell of a band, as that uniquely English oddity, Jules Holland would no doubt concur.

We love the range of prints created by graphic-tee fashion label, the-affair. Each limited edition print is produced on beautifully soft American Apparel t-shirts, which is why we’re stocking a selection of their t-shirts in the Lost At E Minor online store. Read more

WE'RE RESPECTING

WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST

Thumb

Magic Dots

Wheeeeee! This game is so freaking fun! You move your cursor over each dot to make them split into four smaller dots ad infinitum.

Thumb

Creative advertising packaging

Despite the intentions of many, it’s not so often that advertising — as an industry — truly thinks outside the box. Yet, when executed well, clever eye-catching advertising actually works. It does. As these examples will attest to. Read more

Thumb

T-post: the world’s first wearable magazine

So here’s the scoop. Every six weeks, T-post subscribers get a new t shirt issue in the mail, with a news story on the inside and an artist interpretation of that story on the front. Yes, we agree. It’s clever, clever. Read more

Thumb

Armin Rohr

German painter Armin Rohr’s works look like stills from Stan Brakhage films, all acid-washed, scratched out, and ethereal like a sudden flood of memories. Read more

Thumb

Lizzy Stewart

There is not a medium that UK illustrator Lizzy Stewart cannot wrap around her little finger to make the most beautiful, whimsical images. Read more


ADVERTISEMENT

Shattered vintage vinyl. The likes of Rolling Stones, Beatles, Beethoven, Mozart, MC Hammer and a touch of Gospel. A combination of music history to wear around your neck wherever you go! Grab one now in the Lost At E Minor store for $33. Read more

WIN

We’ve just updated the Lost At E Minor iPhone app in the iTunes store with some new features. It’s a daily snapshot of the latest content from the site. You can download it now. Win? Well, it’s free. So you win, we win. Snap!

FOLLOW US

Follow Lost At E Minor on Facebook Follow Lost At E Minor on Twitter

[Advertise here]


WHAT YOU'RE DOING

What are you doing?

CAPTCHA

DISCOVER MORE

SO...


SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..

IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?

We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.

If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.