Ants And Eroticism
He loved old factories, which he considered temples. His favourite colours for painting and drawing were black, grey, and white, especially depicting motifs of insects, ants, deformed human bodies, fire, eroticism, or flying aircraft. The Prague exhibition Up in Flames spans all of Lynch’s creative periods, from his beginnings in the late 1960s to the present day.
It is not a classic retrospective; the curators focused on uncovering common themes among Lynch’s drawings, photographs, and experimental and animated films, which together amount to more than an hour and a half. All of this is presented in one of the most important private galleries not only in Prague, but in the whole of Czechia.
At the request of the creator of cult films such as Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and the television series Twin Peaks (1990–91, The Return 2017), the individual halls at DOX have been painted in muted colours, including the iconic red from the mysterious room with red curtains in Twin Peaks. Incidentally, among colour experts, this shade is indeed referred to as “Twin Peaks Red.”
In Search Of Franz Kafka In Prague
David Lynch himself also participated in the preparation of this extensive exhibition. Unfortunately, he did not live to see its opening – he passed away on 16 January 2025. He left his mark on Prague at least twice before, when he travelled from America to the Czech capital to record film music for Blue Velvet and Lost Highway at the Smečky Music Studio. During his stay, he even set out in search of traces of the world-famous writer and Prague native Franz Kafka, whose work he deeply admired. He visited the Franz Kafka Museum, the Old Town, Prague Castle, saw St Vitus Cathedral, Petřín, the Old Town Hall and Astronomical Clock, Wenceslas Square, the Dancing House, and took a ride on the Prague metro.
Lynch’s close connection to Prague and Czechoslovakia – and later the Czech Republic – also stemmed from his teacher and friend in Los Angeles, screenwriter, and former dean of FAMU, František Daniel. In America, he went by the name Frank Daniel. He mentored a host of renowned screenwriters and filmmakers (including Sydney Pollack and Darren Aronofsky), and collaborated with both Robert Redford and Miloš Forman. Forman’s famous Oscar-winning film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest will be screened in a digitally restored version at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2025.
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