Gregory Crewdson’s new “retrospective catalog,” Gregory Crewdson (published by Prestel and edited by Walter Moser), is a spellbinding journey from start to finish. As someone who grew up in the 1980s, encountering his earliest work—which he made as a student at Yale (where he is now a professor and director of Graduate Studies in Photography)—was quite a visceral experience for me.
The interiors from this series are like stepping into a time capsule, evoking memories of playdates at friends’ houses and visits with older relatives—spaces (and times) long forgotten. Just as in his later work, I find myself taking in the atmosphere and paying close attention to the details. The sense of place is powerful: one can almost hear the TV static and smell the stale cigarette smoke in the air. This early work, laced with mystery and unease, sets the stage for viewing the rest of the book. Seeing the evolution of his style and subject matter laid out and printed over the nine chronological series feels gratifying- like putting together a puzzle. Inspired by Edward Hopper, David Lynch, Walker Evans, and Raymond Carver, the layers are many.
In preparation for my interview with Crewdson, I read almost all of his interviews (as you do). It turns out that there are a lot of interviews with Gregory Crewdson, so I decided to focus on his daily life.
Here’s a snapshot.
Morning Routine
Gregory Crewdson’s day begins around 7:30 a.m. in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he lives with his partner and writer/collaborator, Juliane Hiam. After spending many years in New York City (he grew up in Brooklyn), Crewdson moved to this small town in 2010, settling into a converted church next to his studio, formerly a firehouse. His mornings are centered around open-water swimming, a routine he admits is time-consuming but a non-negotiable part of his day. Before that, he drinks a cappuccino and discusses the day’s priorities with Hiam. Currently, it’s just the two of them running the show, and they are organizing the next production.
The Daily Swim
Open-water swimming (in the summer months) is integral to Crewdson’s routine. He admits that a part of his personality is obsessive and addictive, so he thrives on structure and builds his day around this activity. He also finds swimming to be a vital part of his creative process. The time spent in the water offers him space for reflection and allows thoughts and images to surface. Crewdson takes his daily swim in a nearby lake, accessible only by a 20-minute hike through the Appalachian Trail. Despite the sometimes chilly and rainy conditions, he swims the length of the lake daily, which takes him about an hour and 20 minutes. “There is something about the isolation,” he tells me. “Photographers, in general, have a slight separation from the world, and not to romanticize it, but it is a time to reflect.”
Although the outdoor swimming season in Great Barrington is fleeting (he swims in indoor pools in the off-season and does cross-country skiing in the winter months), he values being “one with nature” and emptying out his thoughts. Even when traveling, swimming remains something he can’t live without.
Production
Crewdson divides his life between pre-production (which can last many months), production, and post-production.
Being in production takes the least amount of his time, but it’s his favorite part of the process.
He admits to being “jealous of artists who can go in their studio every day and make work,” but this is the only way he knows how to make his pictures.
Right now, however, he’s in the pre-production phase, and a big part of his day is spent location scouting for the next group of pictures he’s currently working on.
He describes his location-scouting process as the only time he’s alone and a “very old school process.” He’s tried hiring location scouts and looking online, but driving around is still the only way that works for him.
Scouting, an “elusive process,” takes him months of “driving in what seems like circles” until something strikes him, and he can imagine what could happen there. Listening to Audible keeps him company (he’s currently re-listening to Richard Ford’s “Independence Day”).
“Location scouting is filled with possibilities. Nothing is ruined yet,” he tells me, “and that changes as you become restricted by budget, circumstance, or failure.”
Crewdson tends to shoot for six weeks, and he has a line producer and Hiam (who also produces). “No matter how you cut it, he says, “the budget is always around the same amount of money, and it’s never easy. “A day is like a movie, and it’s very expensive. There is a lot of pressure to get as many pictures as you can get done over this period of time.”
Wind down
Crewdson tells me he’s incredibly inspired by movies. As the day winds down, or if he’s feeling blocked creatively, he’ll watch a movie or TV show. Mad Men remains his favorite series (and he’s watched it repeatedly with Hiam), but he confesses to liking both “Top Chef” and “Alone”, which he watches “unironically.”
Gregory Crewdson (Prestel, August 25, 2024) is the groundbreaking artist’s first career retrospective, produced to accompany a major exhibition at the Albertina Museum in Vienna. You can follow his studio news and swimming adventures on Instagram.