We got to the museum around 2pm and there was already a long line winding to the street lamp exhibit. While waiting, we were told that all of the shows were sold out until 6pm. They had one every hour on the hour. Since we were paying for the museum AND the exhibit, we wanted to get our money's worth and thought that four hours in the museum would be totally do able.
The weather was of course gorgeous and on the brisk "it's time for Halloween" side while we roamed around sculpture gardens of both modern art and the classical. The tar pits captivated us for awhile, while a man on his banjo sang about being bitten by raccoons...
The museum has several artists shows that caught our attention before Burton. Edward Kienholz’s Five Car Stud was a powerful work that depicted the hatred many white Americans expressed toward racial minorities and interracial partnerships in the past. It was a horrifying life-size set up of four automobiles and a pickup truck, arranged on a dirt floor in a dark room with their headlights illuminating a shocking scene: a group of white men exacting their gruesome “punishment” on an African American man whom they have discovered drinking with a white woman. It was quite moving, but I had to move quickly through it as to not pass out from the horrible scene.
Then of course there were things like Jeff Koons' Michael Jackson and Bubbles and Andy Warhols dozen boxes of corn flakes lined up.
And now ladies and gentlemen..the star of the show..Tim Burton!! By the time 6 came around I was freezing cold and eager to see some creepy striped art.
Walking into the exhibit hall, they had the reindeer sculpture from Edward Scissorhands! This was going to be good.
The exhibition brought over 700 drawings, paintings, photographs, moving-image works, storyboards, puppets, concept artworks, maquettes, costumes, and cinematic ephemera, including art from a number of unrealized and unknown personal projects. Most of the works were from Burton's personal collection as well at studio archives!
They had life size sculptures of Robot Boy, the sleeves from Beetlejuice when he rolls them out all nice and long, Edward's bondage get-up, the original claymation dolls from Vincent, THE angora sweater..stretched out, the cape from Sleepy Hollow and so much more! I had no idea the size/scale of this exhibit, I just wanted to live in here and never come out. It should be a traveling exhibition so that everyone can see it.
