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The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) will present "PIXAR: 25 Years of Animation", a major exhibition of over 500 works by the artists at Pixar Animation Studios, including drawings, paintings, and sculptures that illustrate the creative process and craftsmanship behind Pixar’s wildly successful computer-animated films. This will be a significantly enhanced presentation of the exhibition, which is returning home to Oakland after a successful worldwide tour that began at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2005. A number of significant works will be on public display for the first time, including art from "Ratatouille", "WALL•E", "Up", and Pixar’s latest feature film, "Toy Story 3". PIXAR will also include an updated, awe-inspiring version of the Pixar Artscape, a widescreen media installation. On view from July 31, 2010 through January 9, 2011, the exhibition will be accompanied by screenings of Pixar’s feature and short films; a special program of lectures, talks and workshops with Pixar artists; and a new and expanded exhibition catalogue.“The Bay Area, has emerged as the global center for animation today, making OMCA an ideal venue for this comprehensive exhibition of Pixar’s achievements,” said Lori Fogarty, Executive Director of the Oakland Museum of California. “This Museum’s mission is to connect communities to the natural and cultural heritage of California, and we believe that Pixar is in many ways a quintessential California enterprise. Not only does Pixar carry on the extraordinary legacy of animation in California—and particularly the pioneering creativity of the Walt Disney Studios—but it represents the dynamic marriage of art and technology that is a hallmark of California innovation.”
“We’re thrilled to see this greatly enhanced version of the exhibition come to the newly reopened Oakland Museum of California, our hometown museum and practically a neighbor,” adds John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. “Most people don’t realize that many Pixar artists work in traditional media—drawing, painting, pastels, and sculpture—as well as in digital media. This artwork plays a particularly important role in the process of concept design, story, and character development. OMCA celebrates the breadth of California creativity through its collections and it is wonderful to revisit the craftsmanship of Pixar artists in this context.”
At the heart of PIXAR are the concept drawings, sketches, paintings, and maquettes created by Pixar artists over the past 25 years to bring to life the compelling characters and stories that have enchanted moviegoers of all ages around the world. Drawing on work from Pixar’s eleven feature films and many of its short films, the exhibition spans some of the studio’s first short films created in the 1980s; its first feature-length film, "Toy Story", the first fully computer-animated feature film ever produced; Pixar’s recent Academy Award-winning feature "Up"; and its latest film, "Toy Story 3", to be released this summer. PIXAR will showcase more than 500 artifacts, including many of the pencil drawings; paintings in acrylic, gouache, and watercolor; and sculptures that form the backbone of the computer-generated images (CGIs) for which Pixar has become internationally recognized. The exhibition also includes video interviews with artists and behind-the-scenes footage of Pixar's creative process.
A highlight of the exhibition will be two special media installations—Artscape, an immersive, wide-screen projection of digitally processed images that gives the viewer the sensation of entering into and exploring the exquisite details of the original artworks; and the Pixar Zoetrope, a three-dimensional device that displays a rapid succession of images, creating the illusion of motion.
PIXAR will be installed in approximately 11,000 square feet of temporary exhibition galleries and expand into common spaces such as hallways and the museum store. Mural size graphics and video projections will be used throughout OMCA’s newly renovated landmark facility—linking the exhibition to the Museum’s collections and encouraging visitors to explore the work of Pixar artists as part of a continuum of creativity and innovation in California.
“One of our goals is to connect PIXAR to the legacy of California's pioneering role in imaging technology, including early photography by artists such as Eadweard Muybridge, who was instrumental in developing the moving picture,” says René de Guzman, senior curator of art at OMCA. “We also have amazing collections of daguerreotypes, albumen stereographs, nineteenth-century photographic panoramas, and new media that illustrate how California has been at the frontier of how images are created.”
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