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.