Milanese Adventures. Day One. Pixar: 25 Years of Animation at the PAC (Pavilion of Contemporary Art)

There a few things funnier than an extra bad Pixar Villain. “Draw and quarter this man – after you put him in the duck press to squeeze the fat out of his head,” is one of “Skinner’s” charming lines in Ratatouile. Ahh, Skinner, what a glorious, cruel vertically challenged imp! See also gems like Syndrome, the underage ginger nemesis of Mr. Incredible (from The Incredibles). Or Bruce, the aspiring vegetarian shark with alarming relapses in Finding Nemo. Rumour has it that Milan is the exhibition’s 17^th stop on its world tour, and the first European one (see conflicting reports on the internet for a lack of confirmation).

The exhibition is divided into four basic sections: Character, Storytelling, World, and Digital Convergence. Hundreds of original sketches, developmental drawings, sculptures and models are on show in these sections, divided by film.

Oddly enough, Pixar’s early work, a timeline of the company history and the set-up showing the digital animation process used for the films, the more or less loosely associated components of the “Digital Convergance” section, are located not at the beginning of the exhibition, but up a slightly out-of-the-way flight of stairs. The entrance to the exhibition instead faces onto the Storytelling gallery on the floor below. This layout makes for a bit of a disjointed experience-I would have expected the early work (including Luxo Jr., the lamp-yes, it’s there in the flesh!) to occupy a more centre-stage position.

Apart from the slightly obscure layout-that was, to be fair, probably dictated by the quirks of the space, namely that staircase-this is a dynamic, gripping exhibition. I was surprised by the beauty and variety the artwork that comes to exist as part of the design process is. The amazing collages, charcoal drawings, paintings, all just a means to en end, presented a wonderful contrast to the perfect, glossy finish of Pixar films. This exhibition offers the rare and wonderful opportunity for people outside of the animation industry to view this work, work that is not made to be seen, but merely part of a process. The pieces are works of art in their own right, made by highly skilled hands. Simón Vladimir Varela’s charcoal drawings for Finding Nemo are sublime.

While being able to see some examples of the vast layers of artwork that goes into a film was a really impressive element of the exhibition, I was less convinced by the two large installation-type set-ups near the end of the exhibition. The first is a large zoetrope, showing a scene from one of the Toy Story films. When moving at full speed, it looks as if the characters are in motion. The zoetrope is periodically slowed down, to reveal the many slight variations of a character that together create the illusion of motion. Although it effectively illustrates the basic principles of animation, I found the massive, plasticy thing a little bit grotesque.

I also couldn’t quite grasp the purpose of the “Artscape”, the last element of the exhibition, right by the exit. The Artscape is a big screen in a cinema-room, showing bits of scenes from various Pixar films. They are not excerpts, however, so much as unfinished pictures. The look of the characters and scenery is not yet defined, so the installation just resembles a less attractive version of imagery that is displayed in the show. It’s apparently supposed to illustrate the amount of work that goes into the film. The rest of the actual exhibition, in my opinion, does a much better job at this. Instead of leaving you with clear images from the films, the Artscape is a blurred, simplified version of the beautiful things on view. I used the carpeted area in front of the big let’s-pull-it-all-together-but-the-quick-ugly-version for a power nap instead.

But let’s not be picky about the details.

All in all, Pixar: 25 Years of Animation is really enjoyable. Apart from insights into the production process of Pixar films and the truly great artwork, there are just plenty of opportunities to reminisce about favourite films and characters. For me personally, seeing the many ridiculous versions that preceded the final (ridiculous and wonderful) design of one of my absolute favourite characters, Edna Mode from The Incredibles, was a treat. Edna’s not exactly a Pixar villain, but she’s so damn weird and funny she could well be one.

Come, all ye Pixar fans, and worship-in Milan till the 14th of February 2012, or perhaps in a town near you thereafter.