Pixar Exhibition, Hong Kong!

"You really have to see it." said David.  "It's very special."

And he wasn't wrong.  Several times, as we did the rounds of the exhibit at The Chinese Heritage Museum in Sha Tin, the stray thought crossed my mind "This is actually kinda important!" and "I don't know how they've made this meaningful in the greater scheme of things, but they have."

What had we gone to see?
 

 One of the first books EVER mass produced!

No, not the Oxford University Press exhibition also on in Sha Tin, although that was a perfect side trip after the other! You couldn't help but think how magnificent it is that this one was actually responsible for the other in the greater scheme of things.

What we saw was ...

... and if you can't see that properly, let me show you another:

Yup, it's the "25 years of Pixar" Exhibit and I must tell you that David nailed it because it is indeed pretty special ... although what it's doing in The Chinese Heritage Museum is a little perplexing, unless there's something Pixar isn't telling us! But whatever!

Hey, did you know that the little fellow in "UP" actually started life as Asian.  See this early drawing:

 

Do note how much prominence

it's given, hanging right in

the lobby!

There is actually a series of drawings inside - you weren't allowed to take photos in there -  that traces his development from Asian to Caucasian, and it looks like they rethought it a couple of times before the decision was finally made:



 As you can see, that decision was to leave it ambiguous!

However, even though photography was forbidden inside, I couldn't resist taking this one because it was just so bizarre:

 How wrong is this!

That is the actual first visualisation of what Woody, the main character in "Toy Story", was going to look like.  Thank heavens they quickly revisualised him as ...

How right is this?

So that's what this exhibit was about: the visual history of the creation of all the Pixar films.  However, it was so much more than that and actually now and again, as I mentioned before, reached up to a level that made it seriously important.

An example?

To see this zeotrope "in the flesh" is so far beyond incredible, you begin to ascribe all sorts of import and meaning to the making of it.

I'm not kidding about this.  In fact, this Exhibition is full of objects hinting at serious science and serious art and all sorts of serious step-taking on the path of serious philosophical and material culture development and I actually found myself thinking "Pixar is actually MAJOR!" and "It used to be WAR that lead to these giant steps for mankind sort of things, but Pixar isn't about war; it's about comedy." and I wondered if I should be doing a proper post-structural discursive analysis of what I was seeing ...

... until I realised my brain has simply become too lazy and my language-dolche so increasingly limited that I probably shouldn't even attempt to attempt it.

And so, to remove any desire to be intellectual, I simply ran around taking photos of children and of children taking photos of children ...

 Only a small sample of what I've got!

 One of my favourites!

... which is, as you know, a wonderful cure for intellectual urges.

So I cannot recommend this highly enough. Even if you're an adult and don't have a single kiddie anywhere near your life, that's no excuse not to see it.  And if you're a more pretentious sort of adult, if you throw in a side trip to see the Oxford University Press's history of publishing, that works too.

Oh, and go early because word is out and those are some serious crowds they're drawing and the queues to get in are BRUTAL.

And the details for getting to see it for yourself can be found here:  PIXAR EXHIBIT.