Gregory Crewdson - Contemporary Art Evening Sale New York Thursday, March 4, 2010 | Phillips

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  • Provenance


    Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York

  • Exhibited


    San Francisco, John Berggruen Gallery, Gregory Crewdson: Dream House, October 23 - November 22, 2003 (another example exhibited); Paris, Galerie Daniel Templon, Gregory Crewdson; Dream House, January 24 - February 28, 2004 (another example exhibited); Kunstverein Hannover, September 3 - October 30, 2005; Krefelder Kunstmuseum, Museen Haus Lange, Haus Esters, February 19 - May 14, 2006; Fotomuseum Winterthur, June 3 - August 20, 2006; Langesgalerie Linz, Hague Museum of Photography, December 2, 2006 - February 25, 2007; Salamanca, DA2. Domus Artium 2002, March 30 - May 27, 2007; Goteborg, Hasselbald Center, September - October 2007; Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, December 18 - March 2, 2008; Prague, Rudofinum Gallery, March 20 - May 25, 2008; Gregory Crewdson: 1985-2005 (another example exhibited); Milan, Galleria Photology, Dream House, September 18 - November 22, 2008 (another example exhibited)

  • Literature


    J. Froelich, “Dream House Portfolio,” The New York Times Magazine, November 10, 2002 (illustrated on the cover and throughout); S. Berg, ed., Gregory Crewdson: 1985-2005, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2005, pl. 52-61 (illustrated); Galleria Photology, ed., Dream House, Milan, 2008, pp. 1-48 (illustrated throughout)

  • Catalogue Essay


    Gregory Crewdson’s Dream House is perhaps one of his best-known series. His photographs depict idyllic suburban settings, disturbed by eerie and somewhat unsettling details. The Dream House series is comprised of 12 photographs portraying the seemingly surreal along with a very real and disquieting view of the typical suburban family. This voyeuristic combination can make the viewer feel profoundly uncomfortable perhaps because the images are eerily familiar of a memory or a dream. The faces of the figures appear absent yet the setting and their body language express desire and anxiety. This element combined with the strange fantasy of the photographs, flowers erupting out of the trunk of a car or a garage filled with moss, is what Crewdson’s photographs are about. His interest in the dark side of the wholesome American life is reminiscent of Diane Arbus’ photographs or David Lynch’s films.
    Crewdson’s photographs are the product of elaborately designed stage sets and specifically directed shooting. The Dream House series was photographed at an unoccupied house in Rutland, Vermont, casting some of Hollywood’s best known actors as the main characters—Gwyneth Paltrow, Tilda Swinton, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The somewhat macabre story behind the setting parallels the nature of Crewdson’s art: the owner of the house had died years before, leaving the house fully furnished and untouched. Crewdson said: “Looking back at the pictures now, I see a particular coming together of opposites. Perhaps more than in any of my other work, there is this old schism between the real and the imagined. The appearance of recognizable actors in these settings, serves to create another layer of illusion in this hall of  irrors. All this helps to create a very defined and unique series of pictures. Although this project stands on its own, the photographs, I feel, exist in the same world as my larger body of work,” (Gregory Crewdson quoted in Dream House, Milan, 2008).

34

Dream House

2002

12 digital c-prints with the artist’s original portfolio.

29 x 44 in. (73.7 x 111.8 cm) each.
Signed “Gregory Crewdson” on the title page. This work is from an edition of 15 plus five artist’s proofs.

Estimate
$70,000 - 90,000 

Sold for $84,100

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

4 Mar 2010
New York