While most of the world knows David Lynch from his high-profile, dark and mysterious (and some would say, art) films, what is less known is that Lynch is much more of a renaissance man, among other things having trained at Washington's Corcoran School of Art and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. In fact, Lynch was a painter before he became a cinematographer.
With that backdrop in mind, it is curious to witness the auteur going back to his earlier incarnation to produce an extensive series of lithographs inspired by his tenure at the famed studio workshop of Item Editions off the rue du Montparnasse in Paris. The studio has previously been used by such luminaries as Picasso and Joan Miro and the effect on Lynch is profound.
The 192 page coffee-table format book depicts the largely black and white lithographs which feature images of bodies, stories and quotes depicting dark and moody pieces that while unique on their own, are equally evocative of the work of people like Edvard Munch in the late 1800's to Don Van Vliet in the 1970s through the 1990s. (Ironically, Lynch appears briefly in Anton Corbijn's thirteen minute Beefheart documentary "Some Yo-Yo Stuff.") The stone based prints are displayed in full frame mode with several pieces emphasized in detail view as well. There is also a smaller selection of earlier, square-format prints in black, white and red that were the subject of a separate show in 2007.
In addition to the prints, a short but revealing interview with Parisian writer, film critic and curator Dominique Paini (Art Press) draws the comparison between the lithographs and Lynch's films, particularly in relation to both the darkness and storytelling of each medium. An interesting new work.