23rd April - 24th May 2008

I was keen to see how Crewdson has progressed following his successful body of work Twilight (2002), shown last year at the V&A. The press release begins by stating that these new photographs show a greater awareness of atmosphere and setting. The photographs in the first room do not at first illustrate this. Each showed the same highly constructed vision of an ephemeral and mystically sedate narrative. All characters wear an expression that lies somewhere between contemplative and dumbstruck, the gaze now becoming something of a trademark for him. As to be expected the prints themselves are captivating due to their scale and subsequent presence - you can really explore the scene, taking your time to find the many different details and smaller narratives.

I found more improvement downstairs, a slightly more mature and considered approach with better, less typical locations chosen. For me however I found that they still adhered strongly to his fail-safe formula that has worked so well in the past. Each image included at least one of the following: a character or two lit softly by hidden bulbs, a tatty American car (often in bronze) and some amount of lush twilight greenery, all arranged in a Massachusetts suburb. They combine to produce a feeling of absence and subtle discomfort (for me, similar in emotion to Richard Estes’ photorealist paintings of deserted American streets) but through placing images of them side by side the Crewdsons repeated strategy is revealed.

Leaving the exhibition I felt I had not learnt anything new about Crewdson, just that he had improved a little at what he does best. That is, to cleverly arrange narrative elements within a scene that is expertly lit and composed by a talented team. I did not feel as though there was enough progression to be found within these new works, that he had not left his comfort zone nor pushed himself. Although the work has a less unreal and fantastical feel to it only serves to make the older work appear indulgent.