Thursday, July 23, 2009

Lynch/fetish



From the first moment i heard the opening, tragic notes of this song, i was hooked. I wanted to escape to this world of simple, forest-inhabiting, cherry pie-ingesting, supernatural people. Each stroke of the cascading six tones, rising then falling, like the chest of an innocent child stopping to catch their breath amidst a game of hide and seek hypnotized me, putting me in a euphoric trance. It all seemed so innocent, the pristine woodland creatures, tumbling waterfalls, soft amber colors. And of course, there were the girls of Twin Peaks. Every single one of them angelic heartbreakers, with pin-up looks and well-concealed darker sides that threatened to burst at any moment. This world represented a place where the fulfillment of my appetites could occur - the rigid capture of romantic beauty - i just didn't realize how much this hunger would affect me or how frequently i'd need to satisfy it.

My favorite of all the girls was Audrey, played by the gorgeous actress Sherilyn Fenn:


This image of Ms. Fenn is an exact copy of one i stared at for many, many hours. I'm not sure what i hoped would happen by these lengthy staring sessions. Her mouth invited a kiss. Her hands at her neck spoke of surrender, as well as one lost in lust. Her eyes, the delicately slanted whispers, bore into you, challenging you to muster up the courage to even be near her. The mountainous, ebony tendrils of her curly hair gave her a regal look, but also made her look like she was falling - away from you, urging you to save her, to catch her.

Hours.

I had to know everything about this actress, the man who composed this music and the other people behind this show. Everything. Eventually, i learned all of the actresses names. And eventually i learned the man who created this dreamy world: David Lynch

It's been (and i can't believe this) almost 20 years since David Lynch first brought us his world of Twin Peaks. Since that time, i have obsessively sought out his entire ouevre. He has imagined very diverse, incredibly surreal landscapes. From Victorian freaks of nature, to a senior citizen taking a jaunt on a riding lawnmower in the Heartland. From a futuristic desert landscape to a neverending highway of nightmares. There has been one theme that has consistently materialized in his work, that of devestatingly gorgeous feminine beauty. Without saying the word, Mr. Lynch, in his cinema, has paraded a world of his spiritual and sexual fetishes. The women have curves as if they belonged in a museum of ancient Roman vases, and the perfection of their faces certainly worthy of heavenly Goddesses.

Recently, i became aware of a collaboration between the cinematic visionary David Lynch and the footwear fantastico Christian Louboutin. Now, i'm a little embarassed to say that this partnership happened back in 2008. How i could've missed this exhibit, i'll never know, but i hope that it escaped my clutches doesn't harm my reputation as kink aficionado with you, my readers.


It's not exactly clear what the full exhibit consisted of, but i gather that David Lynch took the photos of models wearing shoes that Christian Louboutin designed specifically for this project. With all high-minded intellectualism, i can sense a woundedness that each model expresses, that they are trapped by an insanely demanding ideal of femininity which truly only values their parts rather than the sum of them. However, one look at the shoes in this photo, and the fetishist in me completely starts to lose composure. These extreme heels are totally unwalkable - to someone who has a fetish for female objectification, having your doll mobile rarely seems to be a necessity.

This gallery shows the spectrum of shots and shoes these two created.

This has a video that shows the gallery space, and a bit more examples of Louboutin's creations.

I'm not surprised that David Lynch at this point in his career is being more outwardly obvious with his own kinky bents. The arc of his career has been a gradually ascending dialog on this subject. It's comforting, somehow, to have an artist that i've followed and adored for two decades "come out", even though all along, when i first encountered his vision of a sleepy logging town in the Pacific Northwest, i had my suspicions.

5 comments:

dov said...

If there was any doubt about his being as it were a fetishist I think "Blue Velvet" put that to rest looong ago

Destructicon said...

ahhh! Never connected THAT Lynch with that stunning shoe project.

Amazing. Are there more photos to the set or just those 14?

Well done you gadfly of fetish. Thanks Deity.

goodgirl said...

Deity, Sir
The photograph that captured and held my attention and still does are the white ballet shoes: decadence masked with innocence. This photograph keeps me thinking, feeling.

~alexandria

Deity said...

dov,
I saw 'Blue Velvet' very early on, and Lynch's treatment of fetishes in that film borders on malignment. The antagonist of the film is portrayed as a psychotic freak, and any association to his fetish receives the same indictment.

Viewing it that way, it would seem Lynch was speaking against fetish. Whereas in this exhibit, he's speaking very much in favor of it.

Destructicon,
I have only found those 14. I'm sure there are other prints out there for purchase.

goodgirl,
the white ballet shoes are telling and striking in their see-through sole.

baby girl said...

yay! another twin peaks fan! my friends and i had another twin peaks marathon just this past winter. with lots of coffee and cherry pie to delight our taste buds as we watched.

i've wanted a pair of shoes like audrey's from the moment i saw them on her. sigh.

now, i don't share your shoe fetish. the ones in those photos just look painfully uncomfortable to me and i have no desire to be squeezed into a pair. but there's no denying that the photographs evoke a sexy vulnerability that is quite appealing to me.