“The sinister and seething underbelly of suburbia has long been a source of inspiration for artists. Built as aspirational and almost paradisiacal habitats for the middle classes, these areas outside of the city centre become, for American artist Crewdson, sites for bizarre and unexplainable happenings. Tapping into a host of paranoid fears, it is as if the lid has been lifted to expose the fantasies and anxieties of those living there. The almost claustrophobic calmness of the inhabitants in his tableaux contradicts the activities around them, causing an uncanny tension that we, as viewers, understand and react to like the moment before a catastrophe in a science-fiction film." (Susan Bright, Art Photography Now P.80)
I have typed up the text from my book and would like to refer particularly to her comment on the work being 'uncanny'. This is something i completely relate to when viewing Crewdson's images. The scenes are so familiar, yet captured in a way we feel we have never seen for longer than split second when the lighting is just perfect and the expression of a person takes on the unfamiliar. To me, his work is so effective as it freezes these 'freak' sporadic moments and allows us to absorb it for much longer.
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