Gregory Crewdson

The first time I saw a Crewdson photograph, several years ago in one of our contemporary corporate collections, I was struck by the eerie yet peaceful quality of both the composition and the subject matter. How had the artist achieved such a strange and perfect balance? Later I learned that all of his work is choreographed and staged, in either an interior stage set or on location, with a deeply articulated philosophy behind the finished product.

In this recent interview with Crewdson, we get a glimpse into his creative process and perspective, which encompasses all of the reasons why I love contemporary art so much. He describes how his work presents a tension or "collision" of diametrically opposed values, between the familiar and the strange, and the mysterious and the beautiful. And when those values come together, there is a "moment of grace" - an alignment between subject and artist - and I would argue - between artwork and viewer - because of the very nature of tension and the energizing movement required to resolve it.