A Very Curious World- Tim Burton at MoMA

It feels like literally everyone is extraordinarily excited for Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. No surprise, it's a true classic, and who doesn't love a world where everything just gets curiouser and curiouser?

Set to hit theaters in 2010, and with a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway, the large amount of enthusiastic anticipation circulating this movie is astounding. But what some of you eager movie-goers might not know is that beginning November 22, 2009 you can have another glimpse into the director’s private world of cryptic characters and enigmatic anti-heroes, at MoMA’s retrospective “Tim Burton.”

Curators Jenny He and Ron Magliozzi raided the inner cabinets of Burton’s household to reveal the inner workings of his mind. What they found was more than 500 photographs, paintings, storyboards, stories, sketches and sculptures, some dating back to his time at the California Institute of the Arts. And while many have nothing to do with his movies, a few cocktail napkin doodles share eerie similarities to famed characters of Burton past.

In regards to various sketches, Burton says: “Sometimes these things look like they’re just weird, but I don’t keep a journal or a diary. They help me to remember a certain feeling—they become time capsules.”

The most consistent report coming through of this retrospective is the diversity within the work—critics are saying that what is most evident is the growing maturity throughout the collection; you are able witness the progression of a true pop-culture analyst.
Much of the exhibited work addresses the opposing themes of adolescence and adulthood, sentiment and cynicism, while humor permeates through variety of mediums—just like in his movies.