Check out: Tim Burton @ MOMA

Yesterday I checked out the MOMA for the first time, and the museum itself is really great — huge, open space, lots of great work. Got to see Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Monet’s Water Lilies, as well as works by Dali, Matisse, Warhol, and Jackson Pollock.

But the real reason I chose to go to MOMA yesterday was for the Tim Burton exhibit, which will be up until April 26th. I thought I would enjoy the exhibit, but it was even more enjoyable than I first thought it would be. Burton has been making art for over 30 years, and in this exhibit we get to see him evolve as an artist. From high school assignments scrawled in cursive on notebook paper, to college notes on art and design, all the way through to sketches and notes on movies like "Edward Scissorhands" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas," we get a glimpse into the mind of Burton that is really fascinating.

Even though we got to see some really cool props from movies, like Batman masks, Beetlejuice’s leggings and the original scissorhands that Edward donned, the most interesting part of this exhibit, in my opinion, was anytime I could read something Burton had written.

There were handwritten pages where the writing of a movie was begun, notes next to sketches that indicated what sorts of animations or sequences might happen to certain characters, and even a letter to Johnny Depp suggesting a line that the Willy Wonka might say (the line was actually used in the movie). It just demonstrated the brilliance of Burton, and showed that he was always thinking and full of ideas and passionate about his work.

One other really interesting part of the exhibit was an illustrated children’s book Burton wrote and drew when he was 18, and the letter he wrote when he sent this book to Walt Disney to get their thoughts. To send a homemade book to a company as big as Disney was a bold move for an 18 year old I thought, and the fact that he received a type written response with notes and pointers was really amazing. I think right in this spot we can see the determination and ambition Burton possessed.

Overall, a very inspiring exhibit. It makes you want to start creating things. Check it out, @ MOMA through April 26. Tickets - $20 Adult, $12 Students