Earlier in the week we offered an interview with Nicholas Barlow, Curatorial Assistant for the Photos, Prints, & Drawings Department at the LACMA. Today we deliver a full review of this fine exhibition. If you don’t have any weekend plans, now is the time to make them.
If you’re like me, you often wonder what goes through the mind of imaginative geniuses like Guillermo Del Toro. People often surround themselves with a fortress of trinkets, artwork and chachkies that have sentimental or emotional value. Whether they are fond memories, or future influences, you can tell a lot about a person by their surroundings. Thanks to LACMA, we are invited to see the menagerie of the dark to the absurd collection of Del Toro’s home, he refers to as “Bleak House” after the Charles Dicken’s novel.
The installation itself deserves notice. As I entered the exhibit, I was quickly enveloped by a labyrinth of blood red walls and deconstructed black rafters simulating a roof. Not only was this representational of a house, but the corridors of one’s mind. The stark angles and various passages left you open to discover the unique pieces in a way that evoked adventure. Even the walls were cut away revealing only lath to allow you to “peak-in” to statues like that Frankenstein & his bride by Mike Hill.
Curio cabinets were filled with small sculptures, movie props and gear-laden artifacts that were filled with books and set dressing to enhance the atmosphere of warmth and familiarity. Intriguing video montages edited by Javier Soto, with Irwin Dulay, Michael Fallavollita, and Michael Laus, were placed throughout to carry the story behind each room. Almost humorously, he displayed his own Rain Room, (not to be confused with LACMA’s installation Rain Room by Random International), in which he replicated the windows Del Toro installed as a permanent thunderstorm in his Bleak House featuring rear projected lightening and silicone rain drops. Like his Rain Room thunder, the absolute coup de grâce was the soundscape, making this a truly immersive experience. Carefully constructed but subtle use of a sense stimulation not commonly found in art exhibits took this to a whole new level of creepy.
The journey began with Del Toro’s fascination with childhood fairy tales, and their unforgiving horror of the innocent and not so innocent children. I was in awe of DelToro’s attention to detail in a room dedicated to imaginary insects used in his films. I learned of his obsession with magic, witches and the occult through his collection of automated oracles influenced by books and H.P. Lovecraft.
Although there were several movie props and costumes from his various movies, I was more interested in the artists that inspired him. Hyper realistic statues were scattered throughout the display adding to the bazaar, recalling the House of Wax. Among his boyhood collection of comic books were Del Toro’s interactive and illustrated notebooks, reminiscent of an alchemist’s journal. I was pleased to discover his original concept art as well.
I was surprised to see such a gothic collection void of any sexuality. Freakish beauty was not amiss, but with an overtone of brutality and curiosity completely void of romance. About an hour into this voyeuristic travel, I came to the end which was beautifully summed up in death and resurrection with The Pale Man waving goodbye.
I would like to thank LACMA and Guillermo Del Toro for this very intimate tour inside his personal space. The atmosphere reflected his personality, influences and memories of his wonderfully twisted mind exactly the way I hoped and imagined him to be. Make sure you make a reservation before the doors close November 27th.
For more information, please visit: http://www.lacma.org/guillermo-del-toro#about-the-exhibition
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