Real life is everywhere
Under a studio spotlight a pile of rubbish lies on the grey tiled floor. It is a glimmering, colourful collection, loosely gathered together. On opening night, a crowd of visitors stand ceremonially around it, while in the corner a video screens a silent image of a hand slowly and silently fondling various items of the packaging, one after another: a Coca Cola can, a chip packet, and so on.
Real Life is Everywhere approaches everyday consumption through its residual surfaces. Rather than offering merely an appropriation of the aesthetic forms of consumer culture, Lynch presents its packaging as art. Hence the detritus, in the form of a Twisties and CCs packet, a can of Coca Cola, Grinders coffee cups, cola cups, chocolate wrappers, an empty videotape box, a (designer) clothing bag (RPM), a Big-M flavoured-milk carton, a Pizza Hut cardboard box, a distinctive red McDonald's fries packet, a disposable yellow Kodak camera, a half-crumpled movie ticket, a VB stubby, straws, a phone card, Melbourne tram tickets, cigarette packets ('Luckies' and a crushed up packet of Holiday), and a photography envelope from the chemist. Finally, there are some objects of a rather different status-some coins, a credit card, a Commonwealth Bank key card, and a set of keys. Such egalitarianism in the 'everywhere'- a thoroughly surrealist attitude towards subject matter-reveals a list of the small things that might weekly pass through the hands of a young urban Australian.
The objects are already thoroughly aestheticised, with their bright, bold colours and graphics. But only upon inspection does it become clear that all of the wrappings and other items (right down to a coffee spillage attached to its cup) have been meticulously reproduced