THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

The 1950s have never really gone away for Lynch.  Moms in cotton shirtwaist dresses smiling as they pull freshly baked pies out of ovens; broad-chested dads in sport shirts cooking meat on a barbecue or heading off to work in suits; the ubiquitous cigarettes – everybody smoked in the 1950s; classic rock ’n’ roll; diner waitresses wearing cute little caps; girls in bobby sox and saddle shoes, sweaters and pleated plaid skirts – these are all elements of Lynch’s aesthetic vocabulary.  The most significant aspect of the decade that stayed with him, however, is the mood of the time: the gleaming veneer of innocence and goodness, the dark forces pulsating beneath it, and the covert sexiness that pervaded those years are a kind of cornerstone of his art.

Lynch/Dream