David Lynch - The Air is on Fire (september 2010)

The newly renovated Kunstforeningen GL STRAND will reopen its doors on September 26, 2010 with David Lynch's solo show “The Air is on Fire”. Created by and originally presented in Paris at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in 2007, this exhibition is the largest devoted to his work as a visual artist. More commonly known for his remarkable films including Blue Velvet, Eraserhead and the legendary TV series Twin Peaks, Lynch studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia well before plunging into the world of cinema. “The Air is on Fire” explores the multiple facets of his artistic genius through an extensive body of work, allowing the visitor to fully enter this spectacular universe of sight and sound.

“The Air is on Fire” at GL STRAND is an adaptation of the Paris show; it represents yet another true Gesamtkunstwerk through Lynch's intense involvement during every aspect of its conception. Anne Kielgast, curator at GL STRAND, testifies to the strength of the exhibition. “That David Lynch himself has been so active in the creation of the exhibition has been very inspiring and the process of preparing the exhibition in Copenhagen has provided good insight into the interests and constant developments that characterize Lynch's work as an artist.”

Encompassing all three floors at GL STRAND, the show invites the audience inside a bona fide Lynchian laboratory. A selection of works created from the sixties up until today—the monumental paintings, Post-it drawings, lithographs, early experimental films, water colours and sound sculpture.

“We are incredibly excited that, with the Fondation Cartier, we have managed to get David Lynch to present the first exhibition celebrating the reopening of GL Strand,” Helle Behrndt, director at GL STRAND states. “The artistic endeavour of Lynch is perfectly compatible with GL Strand's exhibition profile, in which we strive to create both 'popular and elitist' projects, as it states in the original charter of Kunstforeningen GL Strand. David Lynch is immensely popular yet highly respected by the artistic elite for his refined stylistic universe and particular narrative form.”

GL STRAND will reopen after major renovations and is funded by A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine McKinney Møllers Fond, Augustinus Fonden, Oticon Fonden and Knud Højgaards Fond and the Danish furniture company Montana. Concurrent to David Lynch's “The Air is on Fire” is Danish artist Kirstine Roepstorff's project "Stories" in SALEN.

Practical information: “The Air is on Fire” will open for members on Saturday, September 25th and for the general public on Sunday, September 26th.

“The Air is on Fire" is created at the initiative of Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris