Robot vs. Monster fight over the city
In anticipation of "The Lurid Beauty of Monsters: Ten Years of the Art of Tim Burton" opening at Oca do Ibirapuera in May 2022, there has been a new edition to the illustrious street art scene in downtown São Paulo.
Drawn by Tim Burton and executed by São Paulo artist, Luna Buschinelli, the side of a 65m high parking garage in the 25 de Março area is now home to a mural depicting an epic battle between a robot and a monster, fighting over the city.
It is the first gable in the world to receive an original illustration drawn by the director of films such as Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice. The art created by the filmmaker consists of a huge metallic robot, with sunken and bulging eyes, like the ones that normally stamp the faces of his animated characters. The tin man's arms fight a many-eyed, striped tentacled monster bearing a mouth full of sharp teeth.
The look follows the color palette and the melancholy and fanciful style seen in sketches of his characters and in other works as a draftsman. Robot and creature could very well have come out of "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories", his well-known book of poems and illustrations, or the movie Frankenweenie.
"I like to take something that already has a 'vibe', a shape of its own, and work from there. So when I saw a picture of that building, I automatically thought of this huge robot. Plus, I have this love for horror movies. giant monsters," Burton says.
São Paulo, with its tall buildings and bustling urban life, proved to be the perfect setting for this story about monsters invading the city. Burton, after all, likens the process of designing an illustration to making a movie or a book — there has to be a story behind those characters.
The execution of the "Mural Tim Burton", as the intervention was named, was in the charge of the artist Luna Buschinelli from São Paulo. She sees her work heavily influenced by the melancholy and inventiveness of the filmmaker's works, and thinks that, precisely because of this, she ended up being handpicked for the undertaking.
"I'm a big admirer of his work, our creative universes are related. We both, through our illustrations, like to tell stories, especially from reclusive, lonely, melancholic characters", explains the muralist. "There is something in his work that can access the depths of anyone."
Read more here: Folha de Sao Paulo
You can also view the mural and others on the Museu de arte de rua de São Paulo website: MAR360
The MAR initiative by the city of São Paulo aims at enhancing the city’s vocation for the production of urban art and expanding its positive impact on the culture and identity of the city. Containing works in mediums such as graffiti, stencil, and photography , in large dimensions, the MAR documents the exciting mural landscape of the city in high definition, with 360° views, showing São Paulo to be a true open-air museum.