'Disturbing' Lynch art show opens

Lynch's dark arts laid bare

An exhibition of art by film director David Lynch goes on show at the Cartier Foundation in Paris from Saturday.

Called The Air is on Fire, the display echoes the unsettling themes of Lynch's films Blue Velvet and Eraserhead.

A series of erotic photographs from the 1800s have been digitally altered to create ghoulish mutants, while several paintings feature decomposing bodies.

The exhibition's curator called the images "disturbing" - but Lynch assured reporters he was a "very happy" man.

"So much of this is ideas that have nothing to do with an intellectual thing," he said. "It's an intuitive journey."

The exhibition comprises paintings, film and photographs as well as copious sketches on napkins and scraps of paper.

They date back as far as the 61-year-old director's school days, and include some work from the brief period he spent studying fine art in Boston.

Lynch said some viewers may find his paintings "frustrating"

Chief curator Herve Chandes visited Lynch in Los Angeles many times to build the exhibition, digging through boxes and notebooks to find drawings and doodles which have never been shown in public before.

Lynch designed the layout of the exhibition himself, leading viewers through metal scaffolding, behind tall film backdrops, down a dark staircase and into a tiny movie theatre to see his early short films.

He also worked with sound designers to come up with a backdrop of grinding, low-pitched industrial noises.

Curator Helene Kelmachter described the show as "a journey through a labyrinth".

"You fall from one world to the next without knowing where it will take you next," she said. "But in the end it's another jump into David Lynch's slightly strange and worrying world."

The exhibition runs at the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris until 27 May.