Art, interrupted - Shawn's Sense with Shawn Loughlin

Last week, five days short of his 79th birthday, David Lynch died. Visionary filmmaker, television revolutionary, groundbreaking painter and all-around pure artist, Lynch is a source of inspiration to many, including myself, who create for a living.

 

In the days that followed his passing, tribute after tribute poured in from fans, fellow artists and journalists, all of whom appreciated not just all he created himself, but the influence he and his art had on generations of creators. 

 

Talking to my wife about Lynch, I said that when I thought of him, I thought he was one of the few people who embodied pure creativity. He just made the films, television and art that he felt compelled to make and cared not if there was an audience that wanted to see it. Few are afforded that level of artistic freedom and most turn their skills in art into a way to, frankly, pay the bills. Lynch, luckily, didn’t appear to have a problem paying the bills, but, for most, it doesn’t work out that way.

 

And yet, one of his most famous works, the groundbreaking television show Twin Peaks, fell victim to the meddlers and made its way to us in a form other than what Lynch intended. 

 

The central mystery that gripped the world after the first season of Twin Peaks was “Who killed Laura Palmer?” The high school student was found in the opening minutes of the series, wrapped in plastic and gone from this world. It was a mystery from that era of television on par with “Who shot J.R.?” from Dallas. Indeed there is even an unconfirmed story that Queen Elizabeth II once ghosted a private concert by Paul McCartney to watch Twin Peaks. 

 

Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost had a clear vision of their story heading into season two, but were pressured by the show’s producers to reveal Palmer’s killer early in the season, after which interest dwindled, stories meandered and Lynch’s involvement was reduced.

 

The story would eventually end 25 years later with Twin Peaks: The Return, but, despite its iconic status, the show was compromised.

 

In the end, most art needs a consumer and to be consumed, it needs to be desirable. Few of those who make art these days are afforded the time and resources to simply create without any kind of pressure or resistence to make it a little nicer, a little prettier... to wrap it up.

 

David Fincher, the great filmmaker, said he hates watching his movies after their release, admitting that he drives himself nuts seeing where he could have improved the project. “Movies aren’t finished, they’re abandoned.”

 

So many of our favourite filmmakers, artists and musicians have stories like these. An artist who wastes months on a project only to leave it behind, unhappy with its direction. A film director has to earn his keep and make money for the studio with sub-par projects while his or her dream project sits in a drawer. A young musician impresses with a ramshackle debut and is scooped up by an overzealous producer who ruins their second effort by trying to make the musician into something they aren’t. It happens over and over again.

 

You wonder what kind of a world we would have if art and commerce were not connected so inextricably and if the creative among us were allowed to embrace creativity so wholly and completely - finishing projects rather than abandoning them. And yet, according to Buella in Twin Peaks: The Return, “It’s a world of truck drivers.” And hey, some of my best friends are truck drivers, but there may be something to that. As I sit writing this on Monday, Jan. 20, with all this day will be remembered for, it feels especially true. In the year ahead, resolve not to be a meddler.