One of the pieces at the Lost Vegas show.
Marta Franco
The Mars Attacks aliens, the tragic boy with nails in his eyes from The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy, and the hidden Beetlejuice sign will stay in Las Vegas a little bit longer. The Neon Museum has extended filmmaker Tim Burton’s show Lost Vegas through April 12. The exhibit, which features digital art and pieces specifically designed for the space, was initially supposed to close Feb. 15, but the show’s been so successful, it’ll be there longer.
It was the director, artist, and writer himself who reached out to the Neon Museum proposing a special exhibit, said museum CEO Rob McCoy. The museum opened in 2012 with an already existing collection of pieces coming mostly from the back lot of the Young Electric Sign Company. It hosts around 800 neon artifacts that showcase the romantic aesthetic of old Las Vegas. Burton’s collaboration is the first one on this scale.
Watch this:
Tim Burton and the melancholy death of Vegas’ neon signs
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The filmmaker installed a series of fully integrated and partially hidden pieces in the exhibit space, an outdoor graveyard of old neon signs. But the biggest surprise was the dome, which features a very Vegas-appropriate animatronic sculpture of a “Burtonian” slot machine, digital animations and pieces based on his drawings.
The “Tim Burton General Admission” is $30 and allows for an hour-long experience in the main “Boneyard.” Separately, “Brilliant” is a $24 experience with Burton-conceived touches like light projection to illuminate unrestored signs and music and archival footage of Las Vegas history.