Marilyn Manson & David Lynch Genealogies of Pain

Marilyn Manson is known primarily for his rock music, and as a figure of scandal. Only a few people are aware that he has been involved with painting for many years. To mark the exhibition in the projectspace of the Kunsthalle Wien, this catalogue is published, containing many watercolours that formally are very emotional and soft in appearance. However the medium stands in stark contrast to the subject matter of Manson's pictures: primeval human fears, loss, despair, self alienation, deformed embryos and defiled corpses. The model and inspiration for Manson is the film director David Lynch, who was represented in the exhibition with four short films from the years 1967 to 1973: the film titles hint at the points of reference: Six Men Getting Sick (1967), The Alphabet (1968), The Grandmother (1970) and The Amputee (1973). Like Manson, Lynch is interested in the reflection on and the aesthetics of pain, as well as the deformation and perishability of the human body. The aesthetics of his films anticipate the atmosphere that is encountered in Manson's paintings. Published on the occasion of the exhibition Marilyn Manson and David Lynch: Genealogies of Pain at Kunsthalle Wien, June - July 2010. English and German text.