23/01/2025
SWAMP Co-Founder & ECD Clem Garritty on his love for David Lynch…
“I don’t know why people expect art to make sense when they accept the fact that life doesn’t make sense” - from an interview David Lynch gave to the LA Times in 1989 (the year I was born)
I think the reason I like David Lynch and his work so much is the same reason I was so confused by his films when I first tried to watch them as a teenager: I didn’t understand them. I’ll be honest, I’m a sucker for a solid, meaty plot, a well-thought-out and perfectly structured narrative, characters with clear, understandable motivations and stories with satisfying conclusions.
But sometimes you need to sink into a bath of strange goo, bathe in the pearlescent oddness of a dreamworld, steam your pores with nothing but vibes and step out of the tub back into your usual bathroom with brand new images swirling in your brain, a fresh twinge in your stomach, a new smell in the air, a series of otherworldly runes smudged into the steam on your mirror.
I think a David Lynch film is as close as you can come to watching a dream: there’s a plot that just about makes sense, in a world that looks just enough like ours, with slightly larger than life characters who feel plucked from your subconscious to play out our deepest thoughts, feelings, fears and worries with some cathartic ambition in mind. And at the end you’re often left with a feeling rather than a solid understanding of what you just witnessed. Rarely do we wake from heady dreams with the phrase “ohhh, I get it!”, instead a feeling often lingers throughout the day, maybe small, maybe bone-shaking. And I think that’s why I love Lynch’s work so much, he wants to stay with you for longer than the 2hr runtime, he wants to follow you throughout your day, ready to reappear again at any time, like Bob hiding by the bed, or The Lady In the Radiator, or Mulholland Drive’s homeless horror jumping out at you from behind a diner dumpster.
As our reality continues to defy sense, shove a David Lynch film on, escape our world and hop into another one.”