The Museum of Modern Art’s big upcoming retrospective on Tim Burton opens with a gala party tonight in New York, with Burton muses Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, and Disney chief Robert Iger expected to attend.
The exhibition, which runs November 22 through April 2010, will span Burton’s films -- digging deep into the Burton canon ("Pee-wee's Big Adventure"!) – as well as his work as an artist, author, photographer and illustrator.
The MoMA description of the exhibition, though, is a tad breathless, even for a Burton fan:
“The opposing themes of adolescence and adulthood, and the elements of sentiment, cynicism, and humor inform his work in a variety of mediums—drawings, paintings, storyboards, digital and moving-image formats, puppets and maquettes, props, costumes, ephemera, sketchbooks, and cartoons. Taking inspiration from sources in pop culture, Burton has reinvented Hollywood genre filmmaking as a spiritual experience, influencing a generation of young artists working in film, video, and graphics.”
Burton himself created a 30-second animated spot (above) for the retrospective. It may not be a "spiritual experience," but it did win over at least one of Burton's critics – Chud.com’s Alex Riviello called it the “best thing Tim Burton has directed in 15 years.”
