New York photographer Gregory Crewdson returns to the White Cube with a collection that differs from the heavily produced and coloured suburban visions of ‘Beneath the Roses’, ‘Twilight’ and ‘Hover’. Those suggestive, Sunday-supplement-friendly photos, explicitly staged, dramatically lit and tipping a wink to the likes of Hitchcock and David Lynch, were often tagged ‘cinematic’. His ‘Dream House’ series even featured Julianne Moore. So it makes sense that this show sees Crewdson photographing the backlot at Rome’s Cinecittà studios, still a dream factory but better known for its 1950s heyday when it saw the likes of Fellini and William Wyler shoot there.
Of the 41 untitled medium-sized prints in this show, all are black-and-white and all but one appear to be unpopulated and created using natural light. Most feature decaying sets, left over from the production of ‘Gangs of New York’ and the television series ‘Rome’, offering a sense of past glories and lingering ghosts. Patches of concrete, clumps of grass and expanding puddles punctuate scenes of Roman streets and New York piers. We’re reminded of the outside world with a glimpse of a modern Roman block of flats or shots of gates, but the photos also have a more interior power, suggesting they might offer worlds of their own. Crewdson’s hand is less apparent than usual and the overall effect more low-key, but that has you looking harder for suggestion and meaning.