On January 15th I read the sad news that David Lynch, acclaimed director and artist, had passed away age 78. He was well known for his surrealist drama TV series Twin Peaks and films such as Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive.
Lynch was an inspiration to numerous artists from varying disciplines. His presence will be deeply missed, but he leaves behind a legacy of influential work.
It’s difficult to know where to begin when reflecting on the legacy of someone like Lynch. I can’t claim to have followed his career closely, but even from my limited perspective, his work has cast a long shadow over not just cinema, but as an influential creative during his life.
Of course, his work is everywhere. Perhaps you’ll realise something he was involved with years later, as I did with “The Third Place” adverts for PlayStation 2.
I first really explored Lynch’s work through Twin Peaks. I’d decided to watch years after my older brother had called the show “essential viewing” and described it as a formative experience from his youth. I later inhaled the series in 2017, right around when the third season was released – a full 25 years after my brother enjoyed the pilot episode on TV.
The show is absurd, yet mesmerising. Watching felt both nostalgic and completely alien, like looking through a warped lens at something strangely familiar. Driven by its mystery, Twin Peaks has a way of pulling me into its dream-like spaces. Spaces where normal storytelling rules don’t apply.
What strikes me most about Lynch, the more I explore his catalog of work, is how often I see his influence cited by or indirectly influencing others. Creators in every corner of the entertainment industry – from filmmakers and game developers to animators and musicians, seemed to draw inspiration from his work. I’ve heard phrases like “Lynchian” used as shorthand for a particular brand of unsettling, offbeat storytelling.
In his absence, his published works feel like invitations to better understand the man and his unique vision. Lynch had a knack for drawing beauty from the bizarre, finding tenderness within the disturbing, and for making us question not just what we were seeing, but how we were seeing it.
If art is meant to provoke, to inspire, and to linger in our thoughts long after the credits roll, then Lynch’s art achieved that and more.
David Lynch left a lasting mark, even on those of us who only knew a small piece of his world.