In September 2016, I read a text in which Nicolas Bourriaud voiced the intuition that David Lynch’s universe had had a profound impact on contemporary art, to the point of giving rise to a new tendency among artists of the past decade, which he termed “fantastic minimalism.”
Bourriaud wanted to turn this intuition into an exposition, an essay, a reverie, the portrait of a city, and suggested that he and I take pictures of that parallel Los Angeles which is Montpellier and vicinity. While I had never quite formulated it for myself, he explained in clear terms the uncanny quality of my images and encouraged me to find meeting points with the world of David Lynch, which I barely knew.
Taking advantage of stifling September nights, I walked the city and its outskirts to pursue, enrich, and give a fresh impetus to my work and tease out some Lynchian points of friction. A month later, with some perspective—all relative, because I was groggy with fatigue—I had put together a portfolio of images bearing witness to this hushed and exhilarating encounter. The exhibition Back to Mulholland Drive took shape over the course of weeks, in which time I finally discovered, as I was retracing my steps, the blue box and the white horse. Without even being aware of it, I had long entered the dark corral at the top of Beachwood Canyon, my images residing within the benign circle of the trembling light shed by its only lamp.
Yohann Gozard
Yohann Gozard, Retour sur Mulholland Drive—Le minimalisme fantastique
January 27 to April 23, 2017
La Panacée
14 Rue de l’École de Pharmacie
34000 Montpellier
France
