CINCINNATI.- The Cincinnati Art Museum exhibits five large-scale photographs by internationally recognized artist Gregory Crewdson from his most recent series Beneath the Roses, capturing the ordinary yet often disturbing instances of everyday American environments. Recognized for applying a cinematic approach to each of his photographs, Crewdson’s work presents visual narratives through scenes of desolate streets, mysterious townscapes and estranged figures. Gregory Crewdson: Beneath the Roses remains on view through Oct. 5.

In 2008, Crewdson was featured in the sold-out Lightborne Lecture Series at the Cincinnati Art Museum where he discussed his process, including the detailed production and post-production of his photographs, which he calls “obsessive.” Much of Crewdson’s inspiration comes from the unusual and disquieting aspects of films such as David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Like a cinematic production, Beneath the Roses took several years to create and complete, requiring a full crew with actors and sets, shot both in small towns and on studio soundstages.

Once the shoot is complete, Crewdson uses state-of-the-art digital compositing and special effects to achieve precisely plotted scenes that look intensely real. The five photographs featured in the Cincinnati Art Museum’s showing of Beneath the Roses focus on the bewildering American psyche and explore what Crewdson calls, “the dark inverse of the American dream”; the original series includes over 30 large-scale photographs.

“The amount of time and scrutiny Crewdson applies to each photograph is apparent in this series,” said Jéssica Flores, associate curator of contemporary art. “These images give visitors an appreciation of the enormity of Crewdson’s process and ask them to consider the psychological elements in his work.”

Gregory Crewdson is the subject of numerous monographs and articles including features in Aperture Magazine, CBS Sunday Morning News, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. In April 2008 Harry N. Abrams released a publication featuring the full set of photographs from the Beneath the Roses series. Crewdson is on the faculty of the Department of Photography at Yale University and lives in New York City; his full bio is available at www.luhringaugustine.com.