Lost Vegas: Tim Burton was an art exhibition by Tim Burton at the Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States. The exhibition ran from October 15, 2019, through February 15, 2020. It was Burton's first American exhibition since 2009. [1]
To create the series of installations, which include neon signs, poems, sculptures, photographs and dioramas, Burton pulled inspiration from memories of visiting Las Vegas as a child with his parents and from his films, including Mars Attacks! , which was filmed in Las Vegas, and Beetlejuice . Pieces were also inspired by The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories and various unrealized projects. [2]
The majority of the over 40 installations are in the Neon Boneyard, including a 40-foot-tall neon sign called the "Lost Vegas Sign Tower" and a collection of three UFO light-up sculptures titled "Flying Saucers". Burton's sculptures and installations are immersed amongst the neon signs permanently on display at the museum. Burton also contributed a temporary component to the museum's light projection installation, Brilliant. [1] [2]
Burton calls the exhibition "my own internal Burning Man." [1] Jenny He served as curator of the exhibit. [3]
As a result of the show, museum attendance has increased, doubling on some days. [2]
Jessica Gelt of The Los Angeles Times calls the show "delectably dark and campy." [1] Claire Selvin of ARTnews called the show "a fantastical love letter to the city." [3] The Hollywood Reporter called Lost Vegas "the greatest possible example of art imitating life and life returning the favor." [4]
Timothy Walter Burton is an American filmmaker, animator, and artist. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Dark Shadows (2012), as well as the television series Wednesday (2022). Burton also directed the superhero films Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), the sci-fi film Planet of the Apes (2001), the fantasy-drama Big Fish (2003), the musical adventure film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and the fantasy films Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016).
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's original space, initially intended as a temporary exhibit space while the main facility was built, is now known as the Geffen Contemporary, in the Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles. Between 2000 and 2019, it operated a satellite facility at the Pacific Design Center facility in West Hollywood.
The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, features signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors on 2.62 acres. The museum features a restored lobby shell from the defunct La Concha Motel as its visitors' center, which officially opened on October 27, 2012.
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