Viewing Room

Wednesday, 02 April 2025

Grey Crawford

Grey Crawford

El Mirage #12, 1976
Silver gelatin print
50,5 x 66 cm

Born and raised in Southern California, Grey Crawford was one of the first artists from the 1970s generation to use the pho­tographic medium as a concep­tual tool to manipulate his im­ages in the darkroom. Inspired by the basic shapes used by the California hard-edge painters John McLaughlin and Karl Benjamin, Grey Crawford distinguished himself early on from the popular topographers of that era such as Lewis Baltz. He uniquely integrated these geometric forms into his photographs using various masking techniques—learned in his studies at Rochester Institute of Technology—that allowed separate exposures in any areas he selected.

Crawford's El Mirage photographic series (1976–79) embodies his unique experimental play through the distinctive use of minimalist spatial constructions on a dry lake bed in the southern Mojave Desert. Inspired by Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, and Hamish Fulton, he blended conceptual disciplines to develop a unique visual language. Crawford used glass, steel, and aluminum sheets to create fleeting architectural configurations that emphasized balance, weight, and fragility. Set against the vast, hazy horizon, these functioned as both sculptures and performances, which he captured through photography.