David Lynch is a creative dude like no other. The brains behind Twin Peaks and Eraserhead is a proven master at moving pictures, but it turns out he’s also into moody still shots.
The Factory Photographs is a new exhibition and forthcoming book featuring 80 black-and-white images of derelict industrial sites; these pics are are unpopulated, but kind of begging to be featured as film sets somewhere along the line.
The images are taken from the 80s to the 00s during Lynch’s travels around the U.S. and Europe, and have a kind of ruin-porn, tech-decay appeal that’s creepy and fascinating at the same time.
Without a narrative assist, it’s up to the viewer to construct a backstory for each site — which, according to a statement, seems precisely the impact Lynch hopes to have.
“I just like going into strange worlds,” he explains. “A lot more happens when you open yourself up to the work and let yourself act and react to it. Every work ‘talks’ to you, and if you listen to it, it will take you places you never dreamed of.” [The Photographers’ Gallery]