“The relationship of photography to cinema and painting has always been the important thing for me. If it is just painting, then you fall into the situation that’s been so constantly criticized over the decades—that you are betraying this medium in the name of another one. If it’s cinema, you’re relegated to being commentary on the more complex results of another medium that therefore seems more powerful, and predominant, than it really is.”
M onumental in size and arresting in subject, Jeff Wall’s Passerby recalls grand history painting not only in its scale–dominating space at over eight feet high and eleven feet wide–but also in the meticulous detail applied to the scene. This image illustrates a seemingly quotidian encounter between two figures on a dark sidewalk, yet the cinematic lighting and exceptional intensity demand further investigation. As a contemporary artist working in photography, Wall creates innovative artworks that examine the medium’s complex relationship with painting and cinema.
While other contemporary artists like Cindy Sherman and Gregory Crewdson reference not only filmic tropes but also the sensibilities of specific genre through the use of prosthetics and construction, Wall imbues the everyday with a similar type of cinematography in a genre he refers to as “near-documentary.” In the present image, two men have passed each other on the sidewalk. One man pivots away from Wall’s lens to catch a second glimpse of the other man disappearing into the darkness behind the tree. While the deserted street appears almost as if it could be from a painting by Edward Hopper, there are small but noticeable details such as the starkly illuminated stop sign and the highlights on the tree's leaves that permeate the scene with mysterious undertones. In its monumental scale, the viewer becomes a pedestrian in Wall’s street–stepping into the fleeting encounter.
Right: Gregory Crewdson , Untitled, 2003
Unlike Crewdson and Hopper’s color saturated scenes, Wall allows the light and shadow in this black and white image to create his desired mood. “Monochrome photographs seem to contain this intense luminosity, perhaps because everything depends on grays and tonal gradations. It’s as if pure light were present in them, and that seems to have to do with the absence of color.” (Jeff Wall, “Boris Groys in Conversation with Jeff Wall'' in Selected Essays and Interviews, p. 297). While Wall’s mural-sized images are often displayed as glowing transparencies in light boxes, this black and white photograph relies only on the light and shadow of the composition to create its emotional ambiance.
