A Trip Through the Mind of Tim Burton
September 14th 2010 09:34
Traipsing through the doors of the ACMI the weekend before last, I found myself becoming ever more curious to discover the secrets of the boy Tim Burton once was. While I admired Alice’s frocks, reminisced about the creepiness of Pee-wee Herman and delighted in a note from Burton to demigod Johnny, the part of the exhibition that really stole the show for me was the retrospective of Burton’s childhood and all its kooky accoutrements.
Meandering through his childish scrawling and disproportionate cartoon figures, it’s easy to connect the bizarre and fantastic imaginings of his youth with the multi-million dollar productions of eccentricity he is renowned for. His early representations of growing up in Burbank, California, bear startling similarity to his later tale of Edward Scissorhands, depicting life as an outsider in eerie, unnaturally perfect 50s-like suburbia.
Cartoons of unlikely heroes, comical grotesquery and the dark side of anything seemingly wholesome follow this theme to show promise of what will later become recurring imagery throughout his career. His penchant for madcap and converse symbolism is instantly recognizable even in his earliest creations.
Tim Burton: The Exhibition was organised by MoMA with personal contribution by the man himself. It is showing at ACMI, Federation Square, Melbourne until October 10, 2010. Tickets are $19 at the door or see the website for more details.
Michaelie Clark
Image courtesy of timburtoncollective.com
Image courtesy of wordpress.com
Image courtesy of tinypic.com
Tim Burton: The Exhibition was organised by MoMA with personal contribution by the man himself. It is showing at ACMI, Federation Square, Melbourne until October 10, 2010. Tickets are $19 at the door or see the website for more details.
Michaelie Clark
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