David Lynch

The Air is on Fire

Presented at the Ekaterina Foundation in Moscow from April 10 to July 12, 2009, The Air is on Fire is the largest exhibition devoted to David Lynch as a visual artist. Originally exhibited at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris in 2007, it explores the multiple facets of his work, bringing together paintings, photographs, drawings, lithographs, experimental films, and sound created since 1960. This exhibition offers an exceptional occasion to discover and to revisit his universe.

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 the 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. Since his years in Philadelphia, David Lynch has always devoted a considerable part of his creative activity to the visual arts, actively continuing painting, photographing, and drawing, and even broadening his artistic practice to include animation, music composition, and sound production.

The Fondation Cartier has organized the most complete exhibition of his work to date, and a look «behind the scenes» at David Lynch’s artistic expression, revealing this essential though little-known aspect of his creativity. The show was born in 2006 from David Lynch’s studio full of paintings, cupboards of black archival boxes, and shelves of labeled binders containing countless drawings. This well conserved collection of his own art dates back to the artist’s high school days and has primarily remained out of sight. Many of the works united here are now part of the Fondation Cartier’s collection; they are accompanied by pervading sounds conceived by the artist himself, creating 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, complete 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. Photographs of industrial areas treat sewage pipes, bridges, and deserted factories with care, filling remote landscapes with sensitivity and importance. The 2004 Distorted Nudes series 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 Russia, these over 500 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 oeuvre.

The filmmaker’s very first short films are screened in a small theatre designed by the artist and inspired by the Ekaterina Foundation space. The Air is on Fire has been updated especially for this venue to include a series of lithographs by David Lynch that has never before been seen. Created in Paris on several trips since 2007, these works recycle imagery from previous pieces while exploring the medium as a new visual language.

An artist through and through, David Lynch has personally collaborated with the Fondation Cartier throughout the preparation of the exhibition at the Ekaterina Foundation, rendering it a «total work of art» that embraces not only the multiple facets of his visual art production but also his passion for sound. It offers a unique insight into his creative process and invites viewers to delve deep into a fascinating and dizzying creative universe.

Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain

The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris expresses Cartier´s commitment to the arts as a corporate patron. A pioneer in the field, Cartier invests on an unrivalled scale to promote the art of its time. From its inception in 1984, it has established a long-term commitment to artists of all nationalities.

Cartier has developed a different kind of patronage through its exhibitions, its collection, and its production of artwork. Its keen interest in the arts is especially visible in its commissions policy: a key feature of patronage, commissions reflect a total commitment to artistic production, from the moment of conception to the finished work.

Through the Fondation Cartier, Cartier is able to maintain its image as a company attuned to the latest creative innovations, providing a forum where freedom and originality can thrive.

Biography/Filmography

David Lynch
Born in 1946 in Missoula, Montana
Eagle scout

1967 Six Men Getting Sick, 4’ (45’’ film loops), 16 mm, color projection on sculpted screen
1968 The Alphabet, 3’45’’, 16 mm, color
1970 The Grandmother, 34’, 16 mm, color
1973 The Amputee, 2 versions: 4’52’’ and 4’05’’, video, black and white
1977 Eraserhead, 85’, 35 mm, black and white
1980 The Elephant Man, 118’, 35 mm, black and white
1984 Dune, 131’, 35 mm, color
1986 Blue Velvet, 121’, 35 mm, color
1990 Wild at Heart, 125’, 35 mm, color
1992 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, 129’, 35 mm, color
1995 Premonitions Following an Evil Deed in Lumière et Compagnie, 55’’, 35 mm, black and white
1997 Lost Highway, 134’, 35 mm, color
1999 The Straight Story, 112’, 35 mm, color
2001 Mulholland Drive, 141’, 35 mm, color
2006 INLAND EMPIRE, 179’, digital video, color