Head of David Lynch rotating giant head

Santa Monica, California, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A kinetic, roughly 21-foot stainless-steel bust of filmmaker David Lynch by Czech artist David Černý, unveiled in April 2024 in front of the 1550 Lincoln apartments near Colorado Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard, Santa Monica. Its horizontal layers were reported to rotate between a likeness and abstract shapes.

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Head of David Lynch rotating giant head

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Site-level location · 34.0158° N, 118.4879° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A mirrored head of David Lynch that rearranges its own face is the sort of thing the filmmaker's work might have dreamed up. The sculpture, by Czech artist David Černý, was unveiled in April 2024 in front of the 1550 Lincoln apartment building near Lincoln Boulevard and Colorado Avenue in downtown Santa Monica. LAist reported in April 2024 that the 21-foot bust is divided into horizontal metal parts that rotate and realign from Lynch's likeness into abstract, seemingly random shapes, and that it sits on a chrome pedestal.

It follows Černý's rotating head of Franz Kafka, which has stood in a Prague square since 2014. The artist told LAist the developer liked the Prague piece and asked him for a version in Santa Monica about seven years earlier. He chose Lynch, he said, because of Lynch's links to Prague, including recordings with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, and a remark that Kafka would be the brother Lynch would pick. He said Lynch agreed to the idea after a month's wait and that making the piece took almost two years.

The work exists because Santa Monica requires developers to spend a share of construction costs on public art. Los Angeles magazine reported in 2024 that the minimum came to $392,000, while the Santa Monica Daily Press reported the project's art budget at $1 million. A 2017 city staff report, quoted by the Daily Press, described the plan as seven to eight mirror-finished, marine-grade stainless-steel layers, and a total height of about 21 feet counting the plinth, while LAist describes a 21-foot bust on a chrome pedestal. Los Angeles magazine said the steel was fabricated in Italy, with German motors, and quoted the city report that the sculpture would stay active 24 hours a day with very little noise.

It is outside a residential building, so any viewing is from the public sidewalk.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Public art outside an apartment building. A city report quoted by Los Angeles magazine in 2024 said it would run 24 hours a day with little noise.

ACCESS

Visible from the public sidewalk at Colorado Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard, downtown Santa Monica, in front of the 1550 Lincoln apartment building. It is outside a residential building; respect residents.

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