RSS
Home
Tim Burton transforms the MOMA into his imaginary playland
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
In the art world, the lines between mediums are constantly evolving and blurring, and Tim Burton is a mastermind of collaborative media. Debuting Nov. 22 and running through April 26, 2010, the MOMA has opened its doors to the wild world of Mr. Burton’s seemingly “Mad Hatter” imagination.
The MOMA truly has pulled out all the stops, as one could only hope for such an expansive creative like Burton. In the Sculpture Garden, a large-scale balloon and a deer-shaped topiary inspired by Edward Scissorhands are on view. Burton has created seven new pieces that are on display, including Balloon Boy, a 21-foot-tall, 8-foot diameter balloon appearing as a many-eyed creature that greets visitors in the Museum’s Agnes Gund Garden Lobby throughout the opening weeks of the exhibition. An extensive film retrospective spanning Burton’s 27-year career runs throughout the exhibition, along with a related series of films that influenced, inspired, and intrigued Burton as a filmmaker. Tim Burton is organized by Jenny He, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Film, with Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, and by Ron Magliozzi, Assistant Curator, who originally conceived of the thought in a light-bulb moment he explains on the MOMA blog.
Part diary, Burton explains that his sketches, photos, paintings are his expression of his world around him, his emotions and a documentary of visual stimulation that inspires award winning movies. It is a rare occasion to be let into the psyche of an artist so completely. The retrospective at the MOMA contains over 500 pieces- everything from cocktail napkin sketches, paintings, storyboards, sculpture and photography. These stretch the length of time from childhood through his present creative process. For Burton, these ‘snapshots’ become a way of recording something special. “They help me to remember a certain feeling- they become time capsules.”
Burton admits that one outlet leads to another and another. An example of this is the “Untitled (Blue Girl with Bouquet)”. Shot with a Polaroid camera, Burton teamed up with some of his usual creatives, costume designer Colleen Atwood and Leticia Rogers to turn some sketches into photos. “I had some drawings I did for my book, and thought it would be fun to fool around with these in live-action. And a little biit of that turned into the Sally character in The Nightmare Before Christmas,” the forward thinking artist explained. For Burton there is nothing that is finished, for him art is an evolution- an evolution that photography has played a large role. MoMA’s Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1 Lobby Gallery will house the photo gallery with the display of 29 large-scale Polaroids, each approximately 33 inches by 22 inches, created by Burton between 1992 and 1999, along with a curio case of strange objects used in
production of the Polaroids.
In these works, Burton found another medium for expressing visual themes and motifs that also appear in his sketchbooks, drawings, and paintings. Shot both in studio and on location, the Polaroids employ fantastic objects created for photo shoots and puppets and props from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, while exploring Burton’s fascination with holidays, body modification,
and the Gothic.
This connect-the-dots method is what perhaps gives Burton the freedom to express so wholly. When everything is interconnected, nothing is a mistake and everything is potentially his next masterpiece, even a doodle on a napkin. One of his greatest artistic attributes is to take macabre subject matter like death, corpses, villains and nightmare landscapes and add a whimsy and charm to his subjects, breaching the typical fear that humanity experiences in the faces of such things. Burton mystifies the morbid, entertaining both adult and children’s fantasies alike.
UPDATE: Tim Burton and the Curators were featured on the 11/26 Charlie Rose show. You can watch the show in it's entirety by registering Here
Info From the MOMA site: MoMA.org/timburton
FILM SCREENING SCHEDULE:
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. (1985), 90 min.
Wednesday, November 18, 8:00 p.m.
Monday, January 11, 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 10, 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 11, 5:00 p.m.
Beetlejuice. (1988) 92 min.
Thursday, November 19, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, January 31, 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 6, 4:00 p.m.
Friday, April 9, 7:00 p.m.
Batman. (1989) 126 min.
Friday, November 20, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 23, 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday, February 3, 8:00 p.m.
Monday, April 5, 4:30 p.m.
Vincent. (1982) 6 min.
Saturday, November 21, 5:00 p.m. (with Edward Scissorhands)
Saturday, December 5, 1:30 p.m. (with The Nightmare Before Christmas)
Thursday, February 4, 8:00 p.m. (with Ed Wood)
Tuesday, April 6, 4:30 p.m. (with Sleepy Hollow)
Edward Scissorhands. (1990) 105 min.
Saturday, November 21, 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 26, 5:00 p.m.
Friday, February 5, 8:00 p.m.
Monday, April 26, 8:00 p.m.
Batman Returns. (1992) 126 min.
Saturday, November 21, 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 28, 4:30 p.m.
Monday, March 8, 8:00 p.m.
Monday, April 5, 8:00 p.m.
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. (1993) 76 min.
Sunday, November 22, 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, December 5, 1:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 7, 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 25, 5:00 p.m.
Frankenweenie. (1984) 29 min.
Sunday, November 22, 5:30 p.m. (with Ed Wood)
Saturday, December 26, 5:00 p.m. (with Edward Scissorhands)
Sunday, February 7, 2:30 p.m. (with The Nightmare Before Christmas)
Monday, April 5, 8:00 p.m. (with Batman Returns)
Ed Wood. 1994. 127 min.
Sunday, November 22, 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 2, 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 4, 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 7, 8:00 p.m.
Mars Attacks! 1996. 106 min.
Monday, November 23, 8:00 p.m.
Monday, January 4, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 13, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 17, 4:00 p.m.
Sleepy Hollow. 1999. 105 min.
Wednesday, November 25, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 27, 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 23, 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 6, 4:30 p.m.
Planet of the Apes. 2001 119 min.
Friday, November 27, 8:00 p.m.
Friday, January 1, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 7, 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 8, 7:00 p.m.
Big Fish. 2003. 125 min.
Saturday, November 28, 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, December 3, 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 10, 7:00 p.m.
Monday, April 12, 4:00 p.m.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 2005 115 min.
Sunday, November 29, 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, January 27, 4:30 p.m.
Monday, February 1, 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 15, 8:00 p.m.
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. 2005. 76 min.
Sunday, November 29, 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, December 6, 2:30 p.m.
Friday, March 5, 4:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 24, 2:00 p.m.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. 2007. 116 min.
Monday, November 30, 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, January 27, 8:00 p.m.
Friday, March 5, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 10, 4:00 p.m.
The Lurid Beauty of Monsters: Movies that inspired Mr. Burton
SCREENING SCHEDULE- see the Moma site for times and dates
The Omega Man. 1971.
Jason and the Argonauts. 1963
Mad Monster Party. 1967.
Frankenstein. 1931.
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). 1920.
Murders in the Rue Morgue. 1932.
Dracula. 1931
The Raven. 1935.
Plan 9 from Outer Space. 1959.
Glen or Glenda. 1953
Bride of the Monster. 1955
Pit and the Pendulum. 1961.
The Mummy’s Hand. 1940.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon. 1954.
The Mummy’s Tomb. 1942.
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. 1970.
Revenge of the Creature. 1955.
The Towering Inferno. 1974.
Nosferatu. 1922
The Swarm. 1978
Earthquake. 1974.
The Brain from Planet Arous. 1957.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
Scream Blacula Scream. 1973.
The Brain that Wouldn’t Die. 1962.
Tex Avery cartoons
Swing Shift Cinderella. 1945.
Red Hot Riding Hood. 1943.
Little Rural Riding Hood. 1949.
The Cat that Hated People. 1948.
The Three Little Pups. 1952.
Field and Scream. 1953.
Invaders from Mars. 1953.
20 Million Miles to Earth. 1957.
Public Information:
The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019, (212) 708-9400
Website: www.moma.org
Blog: www.moma.org/insideout
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MuseumofModernArt
Twitter: www.twitter.com/MuseumModernArt
Videos: www.youtube.com/momavideos
Flickr: www.flickr.com/groups/themuseumofmodernart/
Hours: Wednesday through Monday: 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday: 10:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
Closed Tuesday
Museum Admission: $20 adults; $16 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; $12 full-time students with
current I.D. Free, members and children 16 and under. (Includes admittance to
Museum galleries and film programs). Target Free Friday Nights 4:00-8:00 p.m.
Film Admission: $10 adults; $8 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D. $6 full-time students with
current I.D. (For admittance to film programs only)
Holiday Hours 2009: Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 26), closed
Christmas Eve (Thursday, December 24), 10:30 a.m.–3:00 p.m. (Museum closes
early) Christmas Day (Friday, December 25), closed
Saturday, December 26–Monday, January 4, 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. (Museum opens
one hour early)
Tuesday, December 29, 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
New Year's Day (Friday, January 1), 9:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m.
TICKET POLICY:
Timed-entry tickets for Tim Burton are available online at MoMA’s web site, MoMA.org. The tickets
are free with regular Museum admission purchased online ($20 adults; $16 seniors 65 years and
over with I.D.; $12 full-time students with current I.D.; free for children 16 and under). The
timed-entry tickets are available on MoMA.org only, and will not be available at the Museum’s
ticketing desks in the lobby. No additional service or handling fees are assessed for purchasing
Museum admission tickets on MoMA.org.
While timed entry tickets are not required to view the exhibition, they are recommended. Visitors
with timed tickets are guaranteed entrance at the specified time. MoMA members and their guests
will have automatic entry to Tim Burton at all times by presenting their membership cards at the
entrance to the exhibition. Timed ticket holders and MoMA members and their guests will have
priority entry to the exhibition; all other visitors will be admitted as space allows.
Tim Burton talks about the exhibit
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
Single, married or something in between? Find what you need for Valentine's Day.
