The Lurid Beauty of Monsters: Ten Years of the Art of Tim Burton

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May 8 - August 14, 2022

OCA Pavilhão Lucas Nogueira Garcez
São Paulo, Brazil

May 28 - August 11, 2019

Bank of Brazil Cultural Center
Brasilia, Brazil

While Burton’s singular aesthetic may be composed of various styles, the unifier in his films and art is the empathetic and subjective connection that he imbues into all facets of his creations.  His boundless creativity has been collected into a comprehensive anthology, The Art of Tim Burton (2009), which reveals the extent of his prolific output through hundreds of illustrations.  With text by Leah Gallo and design by Holly C. Kempf, this definitive compilation was edited by Derek Frey, Gallo, and Kempf and covers forty years of the artist’s film concepts, book ideas, unrealized projects, and personal artworks. 

“The Lurid Beauty of Monsters: Ten Years of The Art of Tim Burton” celebrates the anniversary of the book’s publication by transforming its introduction and thirteen chapters into fourteen distinct galleries that offer an expanded physical experience of the book.  The immersive and interactive environments highlight Burton’s cinematic inclinations—from pre-film animation devices to science fiction B-movies of the 1950s and ‘60s to innovative 3D technology, which he used to ground-breaking effect in Alice in Wonderland (2010)—while bringing his drawings, paintings, and photography work to life.  The exhibition, like the revelatory publication, is a journey through the artist’s incomparable imagination—one that unleashes all the beautiful creatures that inhabit his brain.

This exhibition is organized by Jenny He, Independent Curator, in collaboration with Tim Burton Productions, and presented in Brazil by Rua 34 Productions.