Lost Vegas: Tim Burton  with Artwork at the Neon Museum
Photo Courtesy of Denise Truscello/Neon Museum

Welcome to “Lost Vegas”

NEON MUSEUM SPOTLIGHTS ART INSTALLATION BY DIRECTOR/ARTIST TIM BURTON

BY STACEY GUALANDI

Situated now on the grounds of The Neon Museum’s outdoor “boneyard”—a collection of historic signs from Las Vegas’s glittery past—is a domed structure that looks like it’s straight from NASA. Walk inside the rotunda, and there is a mysterious glowing visage that reappears every few seconds on the front of a life-size slot machine.

“Who is that famous female face?” I ask everyone within earshot. I’m guessing Marion Cotillard, Eva Green, or maybe Helena Bonham Carter? Tim Burton—the daring director behind classic fright flicks Beetlejuice and Nightmare Before Christmas—flew to France to film the actress but won’t fess up. Believe me, I tried.

Burton’s illuminating piece of art is just one of over 15 brand new works found in “Lost Vegas,” a significant, first-of-its-kind art exhibition in the history of Las Vegas, and the first time that Burton has presented original fine art stateside in almost a decade.

“I’ve really enjoyed reconnecting to my artistic roots,” says the one-time Disney animator. “It’s who I am. So, making weird art in the desert has been extremely satisfying.”

Lost Vegas: Tim Burton  with Artwork at the Neon Museum
Photo Courtesy of Denise Truscello/Neon Museum

Mixed throughout the museum’s iconic collection of preserved neon signs, Burton’s sculptural and digital installations pay a very personal homage to what he calls “the peculiar and beautiful past of this city” through his eyes and his distinctive artistic style.

Though he grew up in Burbank, Burton says he spent much of his formative years with family on weekend road trips to Sin City.

“I’ve been coming to Las Vegas since I was a baby,” he says, “so as a child, a teenager, and an adult shooting a movie, I’ve had a weird history here.”

Burton recounts the emotional experience of sneaking into an old Las Vegas sign company for the first time back in the 90’s; once staying in a shuttered Aladdin hotel; and filming the demolition of the Landmark Hotel for Mars Attacks! (something he admits has “forever haunted” him). But, he says, these strange memories have been an inspiration artistically throughout his career.

“[They’re] memories and snippets about illusion and that’s what Vegas is all about for me,” says the 61-year-old. “The image in my childhood of giant sea horses coming out of the Dunes pool many years later—like, two-feet-tall—it’s a weird illusional place, and being a filmmaker and artist, that kind of illusion and perception is important to explore, and this is a good place to do it.”

Now, those images have been brought back to life in “Lost Vegas,” in all their Burtonesque glory. A 40-foot tower in the shape of the old Dunes hotel; three giant seahorses on an even more gigantic neon grid; a tribute to the Landmark Hotel implosion; and, of course, his Martian invaders from the movie that first exposed the neon boneyard internationally in 1996.

Neon Museum CEO Rob McCoy says this collaboration was not only a no-brainer, but also a “unique experience where the location also served as creative inspiration.”

“We’re one of the most unconventional museums in the world,” says McCoy. “And I dare say that Tim Burton is probably one of the most unconventional artists and directors in the world. It’s a perfect match.”

Lost Vegas: Tim Burton  with Artwork at the Neon Museum
Photo Courtesy of Denise Truscello/Neon Museum

McCoy shares Burton’s passion for all-things-vintage-Vegas as his family has lived in the city since 1939.

“Our parents would throw us into the car when we were kids, and on a Saturday night for cheap entertainment, we would drive down Fremont Street to see all the lights or we would see what new sign was being erected on the Strip, so this is really close to us,” says McCoy.

McCoy has been with the museum for several years, first as a board member, the last three as president. So in May 2018, when he received an email from Burton’s exhibit curator, Jenny He, saying that Mr. Burton has been following the development of The Neon Museum, and that he loves the museum and Las Vegas and would really like to do an exhibit at the museum…“you don’t tell Tim Burton no, and I certainly didn’t.”

Cut to 17 months later and Burton has pulled off the seemingly impossible: showcasing MC2 Experiential Studio projection mapping; animatronic sculptures; Looking Glass volumetric displays; and, of course, animated neon signs.

McCoy says, “Ninety percent of what people will see is brand new and it’s been created especially for us, which is incredibly flattering.”

This exhibition is just the latest phase of an ambitious expansion for the 23-year-old museum, referred to as Neon2020. It has already acquired a vacant Strip building across the street, with plans to move to the new campus early next year.

“We’re going to totally repurpose that building,” says McCoy. “It will house our very first indoor exhibit area, a smaller gallery and education center, and a neon fabrication workshop.”

Space is limited at the boneyard, so instead of spreading out, signs will be going up, in a gentle nod to downtown Fremont Street’s “Glitter Gulch” heyday. The first person to use the new 30-foot grid is—you guessed it—Tim Burton.

Lost Vegas: Tim Burton  with Artwork at the Neon Museum
Photo Courtesy of Denise Truscello/Neon Museum

“Lost Vegas” follows “Brilliant,” artist Craig Winslow’s 30-minute dazzling audiovisual display in the North Gallery that debuted last year, and the official re-lighting of the iconic, fully-restored Hard Rock Cafe guitar sign in March…likely responsible for both driving Neon’s reputation globally, and boosting attendance this summer by 32 percent.

“We had over 250,000 visitors this past year,” says McCoy. “Ninety percent of those were tourists and of that, 74 percent were staying on the Las Vegas Strip but coming Downtown, which is going to help our annual economic impact on the city of Las Vegas by over $7 million a year.”
(And that was all before Tim Burton came to town.)

Sadly, neon is a dying art form, but Burton’s links to the city’s historical neon heritage may renew interest for artists and visitors alike. Expectations are high for the exhibit, presented by the Engelstad Foundation. It will remain on display through Feb. 15, 2020.

For his part in reimagining “these beautiful old dinosaur bones,” The Neon Museum presented Burton with the “Glow Award” at the third-annual, sold-out, Boneyard Ball inside Encore Las Vegas. The event culminated with an epic performance by hometown heroes The Killers, at Burton’s request. (He’s the band’s former music video director.)

Whether your favorite piece is the Burton poem-in-neon, “Stain Boy Sing-A-Long,” or the aforementioned unidentified face-on-slot machine (c’mon, Tim! Who is she?), “Lost Vegas” is yet another immersive experience from the mind of a macabre movie maker.
Not only will it enhance his wildly weird body of work, but it will also help The Neon Museum’s mission to preserve Vegas history for future generations…and perhaps, make a little history of its own.

“What you’ve kept—these beautiful art pieces is the thing that I’ve always loved,” says Burton. “There’s something about the process of creating something that is always exciting. I just enjoy making things.”

Lost Vegas: Tim Burton Artwork at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada // Photographs Courtesy of Denise Truscello/Neon Museum