I’ve been incredibly lucky and privileged that growing up I was exposed to a wide range of art. From parent’s records, tapes, CDs, to quirky workshop teaches that showed us land art documentaries, up to art university (which was one that thankfully didn’t take itself too seriously, while still educating us). And thanks to a lot of modern tech, we can all find, experience and surround us with amazing art in all forms.
For me, art is meant to the spark that reminds me of what it means to be human. To be alive, to experience existence, the joy and sadness, the beauty and horror of it. And how much we struggle to comprehend and process it.
Of course, it doesn’t all hit the same, but there are artists out there whose work managed to profoundly reach me. It’s not just that I enjoy their work, but it’s that their work shows me what creating and being human is all about.
David Lynch is one of them. His work needs no introduction, and to describe it would be to diminish it. But my biggest takeaway from his work is how much it advocated for humanity. It always left me with a feeling of melancholy but also wonder and hope. And it lit the fire in me to form my own calls-to-action in his honour.
Experience Art!
Experiencing art is a human need. It’s nourishment. It’s getting to know the unknowable. When we take in a work, it becomes bigger, it evolves. It becomes part of us, changes us, grows us. Experiencing art is touching another soul with your own soul.
Make Art!
Art isn’t just expression when words fail, when thoughts fail, when emotion fails. Art is rebellion. It’s the opposite of memento mori. It’s screaming “fuck you” into the void of indifference.
I genuinely believe that the act of creating art originates from the inability to comprehend our existence as humans. It’s coping with our incompetence, an attempt to defy our limits in beautiful futility. And it is love for one another. Reaching out to one another beyond our bodies. An attempt to connect that transcends space and time. This is what makes art so beautiful and special to me.
David Lynch has succeeded in both. His work will reach and impact people for many years to come. How lucky we all are to get the chance to experience it.
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