Gregory Crewdson's photographs are elaborately constructed tableaux that unearth the bizarre lurking in American suburbia. Crewdson probes into the fears, desires, and frustrations of the acutely ordinary subjects that inhabit his tidy neighborhoods, making familiar streets and homes feel eerily unsafe. The title of the series, Twilight (1998-2002), suggests an unraveling taking place as day turns to night and families retreat into private spaces. In this photograph, a boy has dismantled his shower drain and reaches deep into the floor, either reaching for something or obsessed with proving to himself that nothing is there.

Adapted from

Anna Katherine Brodbeck, ed., TWO X TWO X TWENTY: Two Decades Supporting Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art), 2018, 40.

• Nowness
  Watch a short video of Crewdson discussing his work.