Blog Post 1 Love at first sketch
I could finally google ‘Tim Burton Exhibition, London’ and purchase my ticket.
It started with a full stop. After six-years of part-time study I hit submit on my final dissertation and watched it dissipate into the possibility of a merit or distinction. All I could do was wait till July for my final grade. I was free. I was no longer an undergrad!
“The Tim Burton Exhibition, Design Museum, London”
It was time to celebrate, and that meant only one thing – a visit to an art gallery. I had been waiting for this moment for weeks, and I could finally google ‘Tim Burton Exhibition, London’ and purchase my ticket. There are not many people I place on a pedestal, but he is one person I highly respect. I have admired Tim Burtons work for many years; I did however find it tricky to put into words exactly why I liked his work so much.
I packed my A5 sketch book, a few pens and pencils into my bag and boarded the train to Euston. As I walked into the Design Museum in Kensington I could sense the buzz and excitement. The quiet chuckles, the ‘ooo’s and arhs,’ the enthusiasm, the recognition of characters from films. I wanted to soak it all up. I leaned in close to check out the fine details, I took photos, then I went round again and made notes – I was worried I would miss something.
What struck me first, which shouldn’t have surprised me was the shear volume of his work, which spanned decades. Secondly, the balance between humour and the macabre was essential in shaping his work. Dismembered body parts, blood splatters, entrails, and tails! The use of strong monochrome was incredible, creating shadows and dynamic lighting against dark backgrounds and geometric shapes, stripes, and checkboard flooring. Burtons use of warped perspective was immensely clever and reminded me of hunted houses at the fairground. I loved how he created interest through distortion of sizes, elongated limbs, long necks, and exaggerated body parts, which interacted with each other in interesting ways. Mostly, I was inspired by the themes and motifs which he used, too many to list here but included carnivals and clowns, pirates and werewolves, and spiders and skeletons. But I loved best was his playful and childlike sketches of fun characters. I studied the hands and feet in his work, which was reassuring as it’s not something I’m yet proficient at!
“Dismembered body parts, blood splatters, entrails, and tails!”
Before leaving I watched a short video in which Tim Burton talked about never being afraid of monsters, he felt he was related to them, and that he had trouble with the lines between what was real and not real. Certainly, a place I aspire to be, somewhere between reality and fantasy!
“Certainly, a place I aspire to be, somewhere between reality and fantasy!”
Sadly, The Tim Burton exhibition, London finishes on 26th May 2025, the last stop of a decade long tour – how lucky was I.
