As the welcoming gallery assistant explained, David Lynch's exhibition is all about how you interpret it, but he gives you plenty of food for thought. It was dreamlike and surrealist.
Lynch was born in Missoula in Montana. Currently, he lives and works in Los Angeles. Lynch studied painting at the Boston Museum School and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. I fell in love with his work because of the breathtaking and transcendental 'Twin Peaks' (1990-2017). In addition, he is renowned for the movies, 'Blue Velvet' (1986) and 'The Elephant Man' (1980). His five decade career encompasses a long list of work using: painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, film, music, and installation.
Now, we get to take a trip through Lynch's realms of consciousness, one of contemporary culture's most radical and visionary figures, in his first major UK art exhibition. Lynch presented 88 bewitching, eldritch, and multifaceted works grouped around four artistic themes. You noticed the influences and visual references from his catalogue of work and while you ended up learning more about him... the mystery surrounding him and his art remained. I'd just like to point out this event is free to view. What are you waiting for?
Each theme was labelled as a chapter, you'd view the art work and complete it by applying your own thoughts, ideas, and meanings to it. The first chapter was 'City of Fire'. My mind straight away went to 'Twin Peaks' and the iconic quote, 'Fire walk with me'. It explored extreme and nightmarish landscapes as well as the people inhabiting them. Secondly, 'Nothing here', there was actually a lot to see here as it cross-examined the human psyche and the fragility of the mind through a broad set of characters. 'Industrial Empire' was comprised of bleak but beautiful drawings around the notions of labour, industry, and environment. The final chapter, 'Bedtime Stories' was made up of lots of new works which expectedly contained dark stories and characters together in their own warped universe. Walking through the exhibition was almost like strolling through the maze of Lynch's imagination.
My notebook is currently full of subconscious scribblings as a result of engaging with the exhibition. Here's me making some sense of it. Most of his lithograph drawings and mixed media paintings were housed in glass frames, there was so much activity and life-force depicted in his works that I can't help feel this was contained and sealed behind the glass too. Garmonbozia - created within the world of 'Twin Peaks', visually resembles creamed corn and relates to pain and sorrow - featured in many of the works. It looked yucky, foul, and disgusting; a visual manifestation of the most wretched experiences you could be subjected to in life. A recurring visual motif was arms or branches (literally and metaphorically). This could have been representing the relationships between ideas and people; a path between the living and the underworld. In one installation called 'Love Light', the arm was a support mechanism for a small red light bulb, I think it was a heart. Needing to be displayed and looked after carefully out in the open. The colours used in the exhibition tended to be black and white, natural and earthy, including dismal pinks, reds, and greys.
David Lynch's head may be disconnected for the purpose of the exhibit but leaving Home Theatre got me thinking that all of his decades of artwork (albeit difficult to measure) may actually be connected in some capacity. Even if it's just loosely connected. I'll be visiting this again because I have no doubt I'll spot and learn something else by doing so. Going once to Lynch's exhibit simply isn't enough. It will excite and motivate any artist who sees it.
on - 6/7/19
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