For the first time I have got a chance to
have an insight of how Tim Burton’s world was formed through his drawings and
sketches exhibited in Shanghai. In this exhibition a large amount of his
sketches on napkins, drawings and college works in his early life time, script
notes, storyboards related to his film creations,
stop motion animations, which has taken in
the likes of Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice
in Wonderland, Beetlejuice, Batman, Mars Attacks! and more,
were shown. A pity was that even facsimile as well were not permitted in this
exhibition, though I didn’t know why. So most of my learning, drawings and
reflections are based on memory. But this gives me the space to develop my own
understandings and inspirations based on the learning through visiting this
exhibition (though to some extend memories may be distorted).
In the first section of the exhibition the
sketches of some of his very primary inspirations and unique reflections on
surroundings drawn on napkins accumulated through his lifetime in his own
language were shown. The figures like monsters, distorted bodies, skeletons and
many unrecognizable creatures appeared many times. His drawings were quite
sketchy, stylized and well communicated. Some of those have already shown the
great abilities and potentials of authorship of this master filmmaker. In one
interview he once admitted,
he used to storyboard his entire movies,
shot by shot, but now really uses them more for himself: "They help me
think more than anything else. They calm me down and, also, they're a way for
me to think subconsciously. I prefer to act out of my subconscious - I find if
I think too much, I start to confuse myself again."
Most of the figures could be seen as his
emotions and characteristics depicted in humorous and freaky ways through
distorted spaces, sewed skeletons, harmed blooding bodies, dark monsters
swallowing up cities in weird gestures. I guess those all can be considered the
distorted camouflages of the personal parts of the artist. This reminded me of the
little monster of the author project I did expressing my own needs in the first
year. But I supposed Burton’s creations in this part were more intuitive.
Edward Scissorhands, for example, the
story of a man-made boy with scissors for fingers who is adopted by a suburban
family, "was based on a feeling of touching and communication.
Costume illustration for "Edward Scissorhands" (Johnny Depp) 'Edward Scissorhands' 1990. Design by Colleen Atwood.
Costume illustration for "Edward Scissorhands" (Johnny Depp) 'Edward Scissorhands' 1990. Design by Colleen Atwood.
Through the “Influence” section we could
see how huge an impact Allen Poe and Romanism had on Burton. He took a lot of
notes about his reflections combined with his own imaginative world and that
had a big influence on the form of the gothic aesthetics. But all were
expressed with his own visual language consisted of skeletons and monsters.
Otherwise the distortions of human bodies and caricatures were based on very
sophisticated drawing skills.
Sketches of scenes of holidays, a major motif in the form of sincere appreciation and a satirical wink
Sketches of adapted scenes of classic novels, upper Little Red Riding hood, lower Romeo and Juliet
Sketches of adapted scenes of classic novels, upper Little Red Riding hood, lower Romeo and Juliet
Those accumulated drawings were developed
into great ideas in his later career periods. One motif recurring in almost all
his films, “the misunderstood outcast”, was an outcome. In this exhibition many
of the developed characters illustrated with sketches and large installations
were shown.
A very unique section in this exhibition
was the luminous area. This area incorporates imagery from Burton’s films and
artworks. This was a quite uniquely curated dark environment that blurred the
boundaries of the senses of real world and fantasies for visitors. Fluorescence
was widely used in the installations.
