Saturday, June 6, 2020

Squeaky Flies in the Mud / A new David Lynch exhibition opens

Photo by: Josh Telles

Squeaky Flies in the Mud: a new David Lynch exhibition opens

By Heidi Harrington-Johnson
November 28, 2019

When I was introduced to the work of David Lynch during a film studies class at university, it was by virtue of his debut film Eraserhead (1977).

Through Lynch’s central character, Henry Spencer, I was pleasantly horrified by what was taking place in black and white on the screen. Spencer’s escapades with the ‘baby’ heralded the film a cult classic, and I a fan of Lynch.

Squeaky Flies in the Mud, a new exhibition by David Lynch, has just opened in New York.

I then saw one of Lynch’s exhibitions. Prior to this, I wasn’t aware that the filmmaker was also an artist specialising in painting, photography, drawing, printmaking and sculpture. Indeed, Lynch was educated at the Boston Museum School and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he conceptualizsd his first ‘moving painting’ titled Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times) (1967).

This piece was to be a first for the artist in terms of video and filmmaking, and heralded the beginning of a career marked by films such as Blue Velvet (1986), Mulholland Drive (2001), and the popular television series Twin Peaks (1990-91).

David Lynch’s latest exhibition, Squeaky Flies in the Mud, is a first for the artist at Sperone Westwater gallery in New York. Lynch is not a novice in the art scene, having also exhibited for audiences around the world with shows from Brisbane to Poland and Paris. This recent exhibition will feature new works by the artist and filmmaker including paintings, furniture, works on paper, sculptures, and watercolours.

Squeaky Flies in the Mud, on show at Sperone Westwater gallery in New York, closes on 21 December 2019.