The Air is on Fire

Being a huge fan of the legendary TV series Twin Peaks and mind-bending films like Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Wild at Heart and my newly discovered favorite, The Straight Story, it took little convincing for me to attend a retrospective of the artist and film maker, David Lynch. The Air is on Fire, hosted by GL Strand in Copenhagen exhibits a glimpse of Lynch’s talented, creative and sometimes disturbing universe.

Although I was familiar with Lynch’s provocation of emotional response, there was little to prepare me for the three levels of surreally twisted textured paintings, drawings, watercolors, manipulated photographs and short films. Not to mention the ominous interactive sound on all floors.

I could imagine that for most of the exhibit, I was opened-mouthed and wide-eyed. At times I needed only a glimpse: short cartoon-like films themed with violence and disturbing voices, erotically distorted torsos and vaginas. Other times I found myself grasping at the tiny intricacies of his work: strange stories, hand-written messages, uncensored thoughts, drawings inside of matchbooks, and curvy whimsical lines.

His use of colors and textures is sometimes vicious, but alluringly appropriate. I felt that most of his work threatened the disposition of sanity, but yet there was no need to question it. As a mere observer, it was easy to become engulfed in Lynch’s stylistically experimental creations themed with pronounced darkness tainted with grotesque humor.

The exhibit ends on the 16th of January in Copenhagen, Denmark. A link to the gallery: http://www.glstrand.dk/English/udstillinger_aktuel.htm.