A wooden box
Five dead birds
Nakedness
Nature as redemptive
Light as transformational
Solitary
Suspended animation
Dirt and debris
Water
Container and contained
Search for meaning
Ordinariness and intensity
Tumbling responses
Framed and framing
Intimate gaze
There are a myriad of possible responses to the Cathedral of Pines and I know at this point in time I am far from having them organised in my head. Crewdson talks of the work in this series as being more personal, and as optimistic. It has emerged out of a period of change for him that brought him away from his usual cityscapes and into nature. He talks eloquently of light and nature being redemptive. My response seems to be an embodied and emotional one. I am at once moved, frightened, enthralled, appalled… This leaves me torn in terms of writing for my blog, it takes me from an aesthetic and emotional response to having to move to a more cognitive domain.
The images have an extraordinary quality that I feel draws you in. As someone with an deepening interest in still life I enjoy their carefully constructed nature, I see them as Vanitas on a grand scale. I like the relatively low-key palettes, the multiple frames within each frame and that the images are ambiguous enough for me to bring my own meaning to them. I found I was constantly moving between the image as a whole and the details. Tiny fragments of life become repeated motifs – nail varnish, emery boards, tablets and pill pots. I find I become a little uncomfortable with the intimacy in some cases.
Several images stand out for me:
- Mother and daughter, 2014
- The Barn
- The Disturbance
I can read these in many ways either negatively toned or positively toned. My initial response to Mother & Daughter is one of concern and anguish. The door is open, the snow has drifted in, interior and exterior are intermingling.
The images take me into theory in two ways – the first is the psychoanalytic concept of ‘container/contained’ from Wilfred Bion and the second is the notion of ‘frame’ and how we assign meaning through our frames of reference.
Cathedral of the Pines design
The exhibition and promotional designs are spare and minimal, in some ways in contrast to the works themselves. A delicate pine sitting above wide spaced sanserif text. I think it conveys a sense of openness that can be seen in some of the images. The accompanying catalogue is substantial and exquisite. It sits in harmony with the exhibition and while it cannot replace the experience of seeing the actual prints it definitely does them justice.
I am left with a slight question about what the images are saying about women but that is for another day.
