Yesterday Kyle and I had the opportunity to see a sneak peak of the upcoming Tim Burton exhibition at the LACMA’s new Resnick Pavilion, which opens to the public on Sunday, May 29. The exhibit is a retrospective of Burton’s career, starting with his early work as a kid growing up in Burbank and how he slowly became the creative genius we know today. The exhibit is filled with a mix of everything like paintings, sculptures, videos, short films, movie props and even a huge, black light installation.
My favorite part was seeing all of the old drawings and sketches he did when he was younger. You can totally tell that he was really bored when he was growing up, and channeled this boredom into art. But so many of these little drawings were the seeds of ideas, which would eventually translate into larger ideas, some even progressing into characters in his films.
There were also a ton of movie related sketches and items such as Jonny Depp’s costume from Edward Scissorhands, 3 Batman mantles and even the eyeballs used for Large Marge from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Another awesome part was The Nightmare Before Christmas section which contained about a dozen maquettes from the movie and about two dozen Jack Skellington heads. I’m a huge fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas so I was totally nerding out in this section.
I really liked the show overall, but Kyle mentioned that the exhibit could have been way more creative overall. Maybe they could have ran it during Halloween? Or maybe they could have made the experience more interactive and less… a standard exhibit. Especially after seeing Art In The Streets so recently, it’s hard not to make a comparison. Nonetheless, if you’re as big of a fan of Tim Burton’s work as I am you’ll still love this show.
Under the cut I’ve posted 71 more photos from the show, so if you don’t live in L.A. or don’t plan on visiting in the next 3 months, you’ll get a good taste of what the show was all about. I hope you guys enjoy it!
Bobby
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