The Museum of Modern Art opened a comprehensive retrospective of Tim Burton’s work from childhood until now on November 22, 2009. The exhibit will remain open until April 26, 2010 and it is still busy with viewers eager to see Burton’s progression as an artist. This past weekend, I was one of those fans.
I got to the museum with my dad this past Sunday soon after the museum opened and waited in line to buy tickets to this exhibit. We got tickets for 1:00 pm. The entrance to the show was a “Burtonesque” character’s mouth as the doorway and then we entered a long hallway with black and white striped walls and ceiling and a red carpeted floor. Burton’s Stainboy cartoons were playing on TVs on the wall.
The show was broken down chronologically into three sections: Surviving Burbank, Beautifying Burbank, and Beyond Burbank. It featured work from his childhood to current and showed his very versatile role as an artist with drawings, paintings, photographs, moving image works, concept art, storyboards, puppets, maquettes, costumes, and cinematic ephemera from some of his films, as well as some of his little-known unrealized personal projects.
For more information on this exhibit, visit the MoMA’s page.
As a side note, I will strongly suggest going during the week. When I entered the exhibit, I saw a sign that said “Max Capacity 563 People.” They will let that many people in the door. Tim Burton’s work is amazing, but you must get close to a lot of the pieces since they are small works on paper. The over crowded environment was not conducive to proper viewing of his work. All in all, I was very impressed with the exhibit and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area. Please be aware that the show ends April 26, 2010 and you can buy your tickets online.
