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The Burton Exhibition
Jun. 25th, 2010 10:18 amI've taken this week and next off work to finish the second draft. it's not going well.
Monday I was actually at work, clearing a backlog of paperwork. Tuesday and Wednesday, everything I wrote I deleted. Yesterday a certain politcal event happened. I made the mistake of following it on Twitter, and suddenly it was 1pm.
Jel and I decided to write off the day and go see the Tim Burton Exhibition at ACMI.
The exhibition plays to Burton's strength: his visual imagination. His stories can be slight, and his movies often saccharine, but his drawings are full of a gleeful dark humour. There are lots of his sketches here, ranging from his adolescent MAD Magazine inspired cartoons, through to the dark and delightful cartoons he drew on animation paper whilst bored working at Disney, to production sketches for his films.
There are also costumes (including Edward Scissorhand's scissor hand, and the tiny Catwoman suit), sculptures (Robot Boy, some multi-eyed monsters), stop-motion puppets, and videos, including the unreleased short film Hansel and Gretel.
There's not a lot of explanatory text to provide much insight into Burton's work. I particularly enjoyed seeing the influences of other cartoonists in his work: Don Martin in his youth, then Ronald Searle and Gerald Scarfe, and obviously Charles Adams and Edward Gorey.
The other thing I liked was the stop-motion puppets. The Nightmare Before Christmas ones are getting quite old, and the latex is starting to crumble, which gives them a wonderful texture.
We spent two hours in the exhibition, and could have spent longer if we'd watched all the videos. ACMI offer a "season pass" that allows unlimited entry. But it's only value for money if you go three times or more. I enjoyed the exhibition, but I'm not sure I'd go back three times.
Afterwards, as we went went to get dinner, a white car pulled up outside ACMI, and staff rushed out to meet it. Burly men in suits got out, followed by a very dishevelled Tim Burton on his way to give the Masterclass.
Monday I was actually at work, clearing a backlog of paperwork. Tuesday and Wednesday, everything I wrote I deleted. Yesterday a certain politcal event happened. I made the mistake of following it on Twitter, and suddenly it was 1pm.
Jel and I decided to write off the day and go see the Tim Burton Exhibition at ACMI.
The exhibition plays to Burton's strength: his visual imagination. His stories can be slight, and his movies often saccharine, but his drawings are full of a gleeful dark humour. There are lots of his sketches here, ranging from his adolescent MAD Magazine inspired cartoons, through to the dark and delightful cartoons he drew on animation paper whilst bored working at Disney, to production sketches for his films.
There are also costumes (including Edward Scissorhand's scissor hand, and the tiny Catwoman suit), sculptures (Robot Boy, some multi-eyed monsters), stop-motion puppets, and videos, including the unreleased short film Hansel and Gretel.
There's not a lot of explanatory text to provide much insight into Burton's work. I particularly enjoyed seeing the influences of other cartoonists in his work: Don Martin in his youth, then Ronald Searle and Gerald Scarfe, and obviously Charles Adams and Edward Gorey.
The other thing I liked was the stop-motion puppets. The Nightmare Before Christmas ones are getting quite old, and the latex is starting to crumble, which gives them a wonderful texture.
We spent two hours in the exhibition, and could have spent longer if we'd watched all the videos. ACMI offer a "season pass" that allows unlimited entry. But it's only value for money if you go three times or more. I enjoyed the exhibition, but I'm not sure I'd go back three times.
Afterwards, as we went went to get dinner, a white car pulled up outside ACMI, and staff rushed out to meet it. Burly men in suits got out, followed by a very dishevelled Tim Burton on his way to give the Masterclass.
