A Night at The Minneapolis Institute of Art

Last Thursday I attended the monthly Third Thursdays at The MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Art), The Institute is an amazing space to visit. Their home installations are free to the public. For a free museum it's almost unbelievable...it's hands down one of the best art museums in the US. Their current visiting exhibition is by Guillermo del Torro, At Home With Monsters. It is a journey into nightmares and what goes bump in the night. The exhibit commands a supplemental $20 admission and is well worth the price if you are a fan of anything scary or of Hollywood monsters.

I'm currently working on a Halloween line for Carta Bella Paper Company and I thought I may get a little inspiration from this exhibit. It was a little too scary for inspiration, however, Guillermo's work is both striking and morbidly curious. I've always been a fan of scary movies and his work is both dark and highly creative.

If you're in town this spring a visit to the MIA is a must. Their home collection is amazing. From old masters to Monet and the Impressionists, to Ancient Asian and Egyptian masterpieces...its a must visit for anyone interested in art. 

Beware, the following pictures are a bit scary, but not gruesome.

Here's what the MIA has to say about the new At Home With Monsters exhibit... 

Taking inspiration from Guillermo del Toro’s extraordinary imagination, this unique exhibition reveals his creative process through a collection of paintings, drawings, maquettes, artifacts, and concept film art, all culled from Bleak House, his creative haven and cherished home base located in Los Angeles.

Rather than a traditional chronology or filmography, the exhibition is organized thematically, beginning with visions of death and the afterlife; continuing through explorations of magic, occultism, horror, and monsters; and concluding with representations of innocence and redemption.

Beginning with Cronos (1993) and continuing through The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Hellboy (2004), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Pacific Rim (2013), and Crimson Peak (2015), among many other film, television, and book projects, Guillermo del Toro has reinvented the genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Working with a team of craftsmen, artists, and actors—and referencing a wide range of cinematic, pop-culture, and art-historical sources—del Toro recreates the lucid dreams he experienced as a child in Guadalajara, Mexico.

This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Art Gallery of Ontario.