Alice in the MoMa

You enter the exhibit and go through a gigantic cartoon hell-mouth from one of Burton’s movies, Trick or Treat. Moving through a hallway installed with small televisions, you watch episodes of The World of Stainboy, animation inspired by Tim Burton’s book of poems.

Tim Burton is a famous and out-of-this world filmmaker, illustrator, painter, photographer and sculptor. His huge success with the recent film Alice and Wonderland, a fantasy adventure film combining live action and animation, as well as his movies Sweeney Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Batman, have people lining up at 9:00 a.m. to get tickets for 11:30 a.m. Why all the fuss?

With over 700 drawings, photographs, puppets, film clips, and more, the exhibit captures Burton’s diversity as an artist and his morbid yet fascinating style.

“The Tim Burton exhibition was absolutely brilliant. It was nothing like what I had ever seen before,” commented Sofia Taylor ’13, who recently visited the exhibit.

His style is unique, and the exhibit captures it perfectly. The paintings stand out against black lights, and eyeballs and monsters decorate a carousel. Even the brilliant artwork from his teenage years shows his signature style of dark humor, and many of these early works have inspired characters in Burton’s films, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas.

In addition to art and film, the exhibit contains props from his various film productions, including objects from Beetlejuice, a mask from Batman, a sweater from Ed Wood, and even a life sized Johnny Depp dressed as Edward Scissorhands.

Tim Burton at the Museum of Modern Art closes on April 26, 2010, and is an experience like no other, showcasing the brilliance of this morbidly and diversely talented artist.