David Lynch
dal 2/3/2007 al 26/5/2007
Segnalato da
2/3/2007
David Lynch
Fondation Cartier, Paris
Throughout his career, Lynch has actively continued painting, photographing, and drawing, and has even broadened his artistic practice to include animation, music composition, and sound production. The Fondation Cartier present the most complete exhibition of his 'behind the scenes' artistic expression.
The air is on fire
THE FONDATION CARTIER POUR L’ART CONTEMPORAIN PRESENTS THE AIR IS ON FIRE, AN
EXHIBITION DEVOTED TO THE MULTIFACETED VISUALARTCREATIONS OF DAVID LYNCH. THIS
EVENTMARKS THE FIRSTTIME THATTHE FILMMAKER HAS MADE A LARGE NUMBER OFHIS
PAINTINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS,DRAWINGS, ALTERNATIVE FILMS, AND SOUND PRODUCTION AVAILABLE TO
THE PUBLIC. ITEXPRESSES THE SCOPE OFHIS ARTISTIC CREATION WITH NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN
WORKS, INSTALLED IN AN ENVIRONMENT DESIGNED BYHIM AND COMPLEMENTED BY A PROGRAM
OFEVENTS,INCLUDING LIVE PERFORMANCES AND CONCERTS, THAT HE CREATED.
Born in Montana
in 1946,David Lynch spent most of his childhood sketching and painting.In 1965,he
went on to study fine arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in
Philadelphia,where his passion for the moving image was stirred:working alone in his
studio,he saw a soft wind gently move the objects stuck onto the canvas before him,
and six months later,his first experimental short film was completed.This gave birth
to one of the world’s most treasured filmmakers,and the youngest director to receive
the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion for lifetime achievement,awarded in September
2006 after the premiere of his new film, INLAND EMPIRE.
Throughout his career, Lynch
has actively continued painting, photographing,and drawing,and has even broadened
his artistic practice to include animation,music composition,and sound
production.The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is honored to present the
most complete exhibition of his “behind the scenes”artistic expression. The Air is
on Firewas born from David Lynch’s studio full of paintings,cupboards of black
archival boxes, and shelves of labeled binders containing countless drawings.This
well preserved collection of his own art dates back to his high school days
and,until now,has primarily remained out of sight.
Graciously revealed to Hervé
Chandès,director of the Fondation Cartier, these works are reassembled here in
distinctive environments accompanied by pervading sounds, all conceived by the
artist himself—a life-sized recreation of a drawing of a living room,fantastical
spaces filled with large-scale curtained structures upon which his paintings are
hung,and a mini movie theatre inspired by Eraserhead (1977).These spaces form a
highly personal show that offers the viewer a unique opportunity to interact with a
new side of Lynch’s vision in an environment that remains all his own. David Lynch’s
paintings,photographs,and drawings reconstruct his childhood experiences, his
adolescent fantasies, and his adult preoccupations.
The recurring theme of the home,
with its potentially sinister underbelly,is represented in dark paintings complete
with cryptic messages and organic textures.Lynch’s outrageous sense of humor,
however, is also present in the difficult issues his paintings tackle, echoing the
cutting comic relief found in even his most disconcerting film work.His photography
also captures various moods and atmospheres,from sensual and dreamy to somber and
troubling.The artist’s nude studies,for example, feature women with typical Lynchian
characteristics like red painted lips and nails and alluringly glamorous
attitudes.Photographs of industrial areas treat sewage pipes,bridges,and deserted
factories with as much care as nude models, filling remote landscapes with
sensibility and importance.
The Distorted Nudesseries consists of taboo black and
white erotic photographs, dating from 1840 to 1940, that the artist digitally
reworked to form creatures that remain human but adopt surreal forms and
expressions. David Lynch’s sketches and drawings compose the most intimate aspect of
his creations. On view for the very first time in The Air is on Fire,these
works,kept since childhood and regularly consulted by Lynch for inspiration,offer an
exceptional and uncensored glimpse into his creative process;they capture the
artist’s inspirations most clearly, exposing the common threads that run through his
entire œuvre. A major publication in both English and French containing numerous
reproductions of David Lynch’s fine art and film work will accompany the
exhibition.It will feature a CD recording of a conversation between the artist and
American journalist Kristine McKenna, who comment on the book’s illustrations with
ideas, anecdotes, and interpretations.
A rich interview between Boris Groys and
Andrei Ujica explores the connections between art and cinema within the framework of
20thcentury art history,and more particularly investigates Lynch’s body of work.It
thereby provides a theoretical understanding of the manner in which this important
filmmaker,painter, sculptor,and photographer constructs his entire œuvre. In
connection with Nomadic Nights, the Fondation Cartier’s program of events in the
performing arts,David Lynch has been given carte blanche.The calendar of concerts
and performances selected by the artist will be available in February at
fondation.cartier.com The exhibition David Lynch, The Air is on Fire is organized
with support from the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain,under the aegis of
the Fondation de France,and with the sponsorship of Cartier.
Fondation Cartier
261, boulevard Raspail - Paris
Opening hours: Every day except monday 10 -20
Admission: Eur 6,50/4,50