Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, on August 25, 1958, and raised in a sunny, middle-class neighborhood of the city. He never felt at home there, and so—self-reliant and possessed of a restless imagination— he consoled himself with the pleasures of drawing and humor and an interest in visual media that he indulged by feeding on the most accessible and colorful forms of popular entertainment. In newspaper comics, advertising, greeting cards, children's literature, toys, animated cartoons, monster movies, science fiction films, carnival sideshows, performance art, and holiday rituals, including the art of the Mexican Day of the Dead, Burton found the subjects and themes that he has explored in feature films, shorts, and commercials and on television and the Web since 1982. Through his work he has established a recognizable style and aesthetic that are revered today by an international audience. Burton is known almost exclusively for his work for the screen. This exhibition provides unprecedented access to the entire range of his creative output, including his sketchbooks, concept art, drawings, paintings, photographs, and amateur films. The full array of Burton's achievements demonstrates for the first time his kinship with a generation of contemporary Pop painters and illustrators—many with roots in Southern California, like himself—who have embraced the iconography, representational styles, and narrative forms of popular culture.

Photography by Tom Arban