Events

“Guillermo Del Toro: At Home with Monsters” Exhibit at LACMA

Published on August 24, 2016

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art displays the personal works and collection of notable filmmaker, Guillermo Del Toro.

In April, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA, announced the exhibit Guillermo Del Toro: At Home with Monsters, the first museum retrospective of the notable filmmaker’s work.

The exhibition explores del Toro’s creative process by bringing together elements from his films, objects from his vast personal collections, drawings from his notebooks, and approximately 60 objects from LACMA’s permanent collection. The diverse range of media—including sculpture, paintings, prints, photography, costumes, ancient artifacts, books, maquettes, and film— totals approximately 500 objects and reflects the broad scope of del Toro’s inspirations.

The exhibit itself was broken up into various rooms highlighting del Toro’s specific inspirations, from the Victorian era, to insects, to pop culture, and to fairy tales. Attendees walked through each room as if in a small labyrinth or maze, zig zagging past bookcases displaying del Toro’s collection of special effect film artifacts to statues hidden into walls.

Pieces from his kaiju film Pacific Rim were well represented in the full display of Mako Mori’s pilot suit and a statue of a kaiju parasite, much to the delight of kaiju and tokusatsu fans in attendance.

Most notably on display were del Toro’s personal notebooks that housed his own drawings and notes for his various films. The actual notebook was displayed behind glass and opened on a specific page relating to the room it was in and a digital copy of its contents were available below on a touchscreen for attendees to peruse.

LACMA also released a companion book of the same title available to purchase. It also notes various interviews and commentary in relation to the exhibit and collection. It is available at the LACMA store or from Amazon.

Tickets for the exhibit are available for $25, which also includes general admission to the museum. The exhibit will be on display at LACMA until November 27, 2016.

From LACMA, it will travel to the Minneapolis Institute of Art from February 26 to May 21, 2017 then to the Art Gallery of Ontario from September 30, 2017 to January 7, 2018.