Lynch committed to this statement nearly 20 years after The Amputee, participating in a collaborative project of directors using the original Lumiere Brothers cameras and early film techniques. Premonitions Following An Evil Deed conveys a fairly traditional narrative, of police reporting a death of a young woman to her family. It’s in between the discovery of the body and the police reporting to the next of kin when a full fever dream of imagery that cements the idea of ‘Lynchian’ occurs. Lynch’s creativity and comfort across forms makes him a hands on innovator. From digital cameras in work like Darkened Room to flash animation with the Dumbland series, Lynch is at the forefront of technology and storytelling potential. While we remark at things like Scorsese working for HBO in the early Aughts or Fincher helming shows at Netflix, Lynch has long been explorative across visual mediums.

Participating in group projects has lead to some of the most iconic Lynchian work, but it’s also created one of his most accessible oddities. For the The French As Seen By … compilation, Lynch created The Cowboy and the Frenchman a brightly lit slapstick with bits of Western themed television parody and French new wave surreality. Interstitials, narration and on the nose writing combine with a stoically comedic performance by Harry Dean Stanton. The end result is hilariously eccentric; it avoids the dark foreboding of other Lynchian work, but perverts classical American iconography while subverting its attitude on global power.



As the environment for feature length films in Lynch’s aesthetic has changed, Lynch has increased his output in short work. This prolific artistic period is his third major statement. He has worked in music videos, original trailers for film festivals and been unafraid to apply his skills to paid content for advertisers like Dior. His contribution to the To Each His Own Cinema, Absurda, is another stand out. Featuring a stationary camera capturing projected visions of terror for unseen protagonists, Absurda shows Lynch’s detachment from cinema as a medium of joy.



Upending traditional values are key to much of the Lynch experience. A suburb running into the violence of criminal underworlds in Blue Velvet; the classic American sweetheart from the midwest being ruined by Hollywood in Mulholland Drive. The previously mentioned Dumbland, a series of Flash animated shorts Lynch wrote, animated and voiced himself, continued this Lynch tradition. Combining lo-fi minimalism and Looney Tunes style absurdity, It’s a scathing rebuke of an uneducated and poverty stricken American landscape. Weighted against the post 9/11 world it was released in, it acts as time capsule of anxiety and xenophobia that became embedded into the American experience.