"Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire"
1999-09-18 until 2000-01-02
Wexner Center for the Arts
Columbus, OH, USA United States of America

Launching its 10th anniversary season, the Wexner Center will present a major exhibition of the work of artist Julie Taymor, the pioneering director and designer of a host of stunning stage and film productions, including Disney's The Lion King. Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire is the first full-scale museum retrospective devoted to Taymor, who possesses what theater producer Harold Prince has called a rare visionary gift. The exhibition will examine and illuminate the remarkable trajectory of Taymor's 25-year career, from her early forays into Indonesian theater through her work in the non-profit theater world to her recent triumph as a Tony Award-winning director on Broadway. Taymor--a designer of --ostumes, sets, masks, and puppets, and director of theater, opera, and film–is an especially fitting subject for the multidisciplinary Wexner Center.

The magnitude of Taymor's creative vision will be captured through large-scale installations featuring scenic elements, puppets, masks, and costumes designed by the artist and her collaborators. Video clips, set designs, maquettes, special effects, theatrical lighting, preparatory drawings, photographic documentation, and music from her productions (including scores by longtime Taymor collaborator Elliot Goldenthal) will also be part of the show, which will occupy all four galleries at the Wexner Center. The exhibition will focus on key productions of her career: Liberty's Taken, a bawdy music-theater piece set in the American revolution; Juan Darién: A Carnival Mass, based on a Latin American folk tale; the American Playhouse TV production Fool's Fire, drawn from a story by Edgar Allan Poe; Oedipus Rex, an opera and film production starring Jessye Norman; and Disney's The Lion King

Related Links:

Set Design Studio

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Ohio

Other Important Exhibitions in Columbus