In Gruff Rhys’ psych-country “Just War”, a blurred little girl moves amongst filthy plastic dolls to create a lurid piece. In Vic Chesnutt’s menacing and graphic “Grim Angry”, a large severed heard interrupts a holiday dinner ending with a death. When strung all together, the songs and images fail to create a cohesive narrative, but certain themes and images recur throughout. A flying man on a billboard in the background of Jason Lytle’s “Everytime I’m With You”, reappears in the next set of images flying amongst glass ornaments in an alternate universe. A green shag carpet in Suzanne Vega’s “The Man Who Played God” bears resemblance to the grass in the following photo set.
      While much of the exhibit’s hype centers around the Danger Mouse-Lynch collaboration, it ultimately seems to be the most reflective of its understated third member – Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous. An artist who has definitely had his fair share of darkness – almost losing his life in a 1996 overdose followed by bouts of severe depression and drug addiction – the exhibit presents itself as a collaborative effort expressing a singular voice, a collective journey to purge the soul. Like its title, Dark Night of the Soul – which refers to the journey to purify the soul in order to attain a union with God – the album’s progression and sound is evocative of Linkous’s journey to salvage his union with whomever that may be – God, himself, or otherwise. And who better to help him along the way than Danger Mouse, David Lynch, and a dozen other creative and talented friends? While the prodigious collaboration was a dream come true, the journey has been more of a legal nightmare.