Gregory Crewdson has had a huge influence on constructed implied narrative in photography. Schooled at Yale, and teaching there since, he has trained more than a generation of photographer-stylists who, like motion film directors, select, direct and design characters within the photograph's still boundary.
He has spoken in Portland, exhibited at Reed and was included in a contemporary group show curated by Bruce Guenther at the Portland Art Museum. He's an artist and a little odd, but it's working. He receives multi-million dollar advances from his gallery, Gagosian, to hire production crews. He has developed a Photoshop process to produce very large infinite depth of field prints from multiple exposures on 8x10.
Now his latest work turns his cinematic approach on itself. In Sanctuary, he photographed the Cinecittà outdoor film studios in Rome, devoid of actors. Cinecittà has operated continuously for 75 years. It is the location for numerous well known films, including the HBO-BBC series Rome. So Crewdson has unmasked the cinema and made visible the precarious scaffolding hidden previously in his work.
Portlanders have another chance to engage Crewdson in a documentary, Brief Encounters, showing now in Portland. It is focused on a series in his mid-2000's cinematic work, Beneath the Roses, some of which showed in Portland. Not sure how long the run of the film is.
Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters shows at the Living Room Theaters pdx.livingroomtheaters.com 341 SW 10th See the Theater Website for times. $7/$6 Students
