The
Art of David Lynch: Dark Passages
January
25 - April 20, 2003
The
Art of David Lynch: Dark Passages presented
by the Reading Public Museum runs from January
25 – April 20, 2003. Curated by Director
Emeritus Dr. Robert Metzger, the exhibit
includes works in a variety of mediums including
paintings, prints, watercolors, drawings,
and photogravures. Known primarily as the
director of such films as Blue Velvet, Twin
Peaks, and most recently Mulholland Drive,
Lynch began his career as a painter, however,
his interest in “movement” in
painting was a factor in his decision to
become a filmmaker.
The Art of David Lynch is included
with regular Museum admission of $5 adults,
$3 children 4 to 17. Members and children
under 4 are free. Museum hours are Tuesday,
Thursday-Saturday 11am to 5pm, Wednesday
11am to 8pm and Sunday 12pm to 5pm. The
Member Opening Reception, sponsored by the
Friends of the Reading Museum, is February
1, 2003, 5:30pm to 8:30pm. This exhibition
is supported in part by the Pennsylvania
Council on the Arts and the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission.
David Lynch was born in 1946 in Missoula,
Montana. He headed east and first studied
art in Boston and Washington, D.C. before
eventually graduating from the Pennsylvania
Academy of Art in Philadelphia. He began
making short films in the late 60s while
simultaneously painting. Filmmaking actually
became a natural extension of his work in
painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture,
photography, installation and performance
and he eventually laid the groundwork for
his first feature film, Eraserhead,
after receiving a grant to the American
Film Institute in Beverly Hills. This film
was followed by, among others, Elephant
Man, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks and Lost
Highway in the 80s and 90s. Dr. Robert
Metzger, Exhibit Curator notes, “Lynch’s
desire to make his paintings move underscores
his films as extensions of his paintings,
rather than the other way around. His work
consistently embraces an unapologetic concern
for the human condition with the conventional
masks removed. In unmasking the American
Dream he shows us the opulence and decadence
of the corrupt state of the world, revealing
the cataclysmic consequence of this corruption
in social disarray.”
Combinations of image with text and a touch
of the absurd with black humor defines much
of Lynch’s artwork. Like his films,
his work is informed by surrealism in a
style uniquely his own. His paintings are
denials of normality, which explore the
full range of the human condition, exploiting
the flaws. “With a boundless imagination,
Lynch succeeds in distilling the moods,
light and atmosphere of his world into compelling
statements of expressive power,” states
Metzger. “These disturbing visual
messages from a socially self-aware artist-storyteller
reveal the plight of fragmented humanity
at the millennium, chillingly informing
viewers of the universal story of our lives.”
The Art of David Lynch: Dark Passages
exhibit at the Reading Public Museum is
running simultaneously with All the
Art in Me: In Search of Horace Pippin.
Related
Programming for The Art of David Lynch:
Dark Passages:
Discovery Talk – “The Art of
David Lynch: Dark Passages” with Dr.
Robert P. Metzger, Director Emeritus and
Exhibit Curator. Tuesday, January 28, 2003
at 10am. Free. Auditorium.
Group Tours – “The Art of David
Lynch: Dark Passages”. To schedule
a group tour, call our Education Department
at 610.371.5850 ext. 229.
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