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An antique gray and gold television with rounded corners and a red speaker.

Engineered for Domestic Bliss

A colossal puppy, an abandoned tricycle, an unnaturally manicured lawn: are these the markers of a suburban idyll—or signs of something more complicated, even subversive? The artists gathered here question symbols of domestic perfection by rendering them unnerving, strange, or potentially menacing. By disrupting our associations with everyday objects, these artists encourage us to examine the society that produces and upholds them.

Domestic Idols

This exhibition examines the closely related techniques of collage, assemblage, photomontage, and found object sculpture. The diverse selection of artworks, drawn from Mia&#8217;s collection and local private collections, are by leading national and international artists and showcase the recent resurgence of interest over the past several decades in these art forms. The exhibition highlights both formal and conceptual experimentation and demonstrates how these interrelated techniques are particularly suited to exploring social, political, cultural themes and content.

This is a collage piece on a board of wood. There are hand-drawn cowboys with pieces of floral paper.

2020.96.7

Collage/Assemblage Part II: 1990-Now

The idea of retreating from society into mountainous landscapes has a long history in China. Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian followers all regarded mountains as sacred places where one could become spiritually fulfilled, far from restraining social burdens.
This exhibition features classical Chinese paintings from Mia’s permanent collection that express the idyllic life of mountain dwellers, from recluses in their mountain huts to scenic lakes with fishermen who represent a life of freedom and spontaneity. Many paintings depict cascading waterfalls, a reference to the Confucianist and Daoist analogy for facing life’s troubles: to gaze into a waterfall is to gaze into one’s mind.

Dwelling in Mountains: Reclusion in Chinese Landscape Painting

Tanaka Ryōhei (1933–2019) was a prolific Japanese printmaker who specialized in etchings. Born and raised in Takatsuki, he grew up surrounded by the rural landscapes of western Japan, which would become the subject of his prints. This exhibition features prints by Tanaka given to Mia from the extensive collection of Sue Y. S. Kimm and Seymour Grufferman.
Tanaka began etching in his thirties after meeting Furuno Yoshio (1909–1978), the founder of the Kyoto Etchers Association. At the time, etching was far less common than woodblock-printing, the primary mode of printing in Japan for centuries. Tanaka learned the basics of etching from Furuno, soon developed his own methods through experimentation, and continued to make and print his own etchings until 2013.
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2019.78.325

Tanaka Ryōhei: Portrait of a Home

Thomas Putzier&#8217;s sculptures and paintings address the social longing for change despite insurmountable bureaucratic obstacles. Using utopian imagery and architectural forms, Putzier allows the visitor to imagine new possibilities.
Based in Greater Minnesota, Putzier works across various media as an artist and designer. His practice examines the complex relationships between social, political, and economic structures that shape society. His work has been exhibited at the CICA Museum in Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea; Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minnesota; the I-Park Foundation in East Haddam, Connecticut; the Neon Museum in Las Vegas; and the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art in Las Vegas. His work is in the permanent collection of the Neon Museum.
This exhibition is part of the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program.
Support provided by RBC Wealth Management.

Thomas Putzier: Grief &amp; Bureaucracy

Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) rose to become the hero of Dutch art in the late 1500s. He started his career as an engraver of copper printing plates, developing his skills to mind-boggling perfection, whether working in fine detail or with bravura gesture. Sometimes he engraved his own inventions; sometimes he worked from other artists’ drawings. He also had a remarkable aptitude for inventing new compositions in the style of other artists. Goltzius’s skill is yet more remarkable considering a serious childhood accident left him unable to open his dominant right hand. This exhibition looks at Goltzius’s mature printmaking and the circle of artists around him who came to rival his talent.

This is an engraved art piece of a figure dressed in prestigious clothing while holding a flag in their hand.

2023.32

Goltzius &amp; Co.

This exhibition showcases a selection of watercolors, drawings, and original prints recently added to Mia’s permanent collection. Ranging in date from 1975 to 2023, all are the work of women artists—some celebrated, others less widely known. Collectively, the selection reflects the museum’s ongoing efforts to reexamine and reset its collecting strategies to better reflect the remarkable diversity of artistic achievement in the United States and elsewhere. By championing the work of artists underrepresented in its collections, Mia strengthens its commitment to enriching the community by collecting, preserving, and displaying outstanding works of art.

L2023.56.2

New at Mia: Contemporary Works on Paper by Women Artists

Bizen ware, characterized by its rich reddish-brown clay with natural ash glaze, is one of Japan’s six pottery traditions. Originating from today’s Okayama prefecture on the Seto Inland Sea, its history reaches back to the 14th century. It peaked during the late 16th century when the tea masters in and around Kyoto, the center of culture in Japan, found it most appealing. With the modernization of Japan in the mid-19th century, Bizen almost disappeared, but the tradition was revived in the 1930s and many artists since have explored its potential. While some have stayed closer to conventional forms, others have surprised with new shapes while staying true to the core of Bizen. This exhibition showcases the journey in Bizen from the 16th century to the 21st.

2019.92.4

Bizen: Contemporary Expressions of an Ancient Japanese Pottery

Some people go bungee jumping or cave exploring for fun, but most of us would rather watch a scary movie or listen to a ghost story when we need a little fright in our lives. It wasn’t much different in the 1700s and the 1800s. Artists reveled in the Sublime, the flip side of the Age of Enlightenment, in which Romantics opened themselves to the sensation of forces beyond human comprehension and control. They gave their audiences terrifying images—sometimes for giggles, sometimes for soulful contemplation. In this exhibition, artists such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Francisco Goya, and William Blake stir the cauldron with images so peculiar that it was—and still is—hard to know what to make of them.

Dark Visions

This magnificent group of robes from Mia’s collection belonged to high-ranking Buddhist priests. Known as kashaya, they were designed to be draped over the left shoulder, under the right arm, and fastened in front under the left shoulder, and are more elaborate than the robes worn by most Buddhist monks. Yet they were fabricated from small squares sewn together, symbolizing the humble nature of Buddha. Within these patchwork squares are various Buddhist motifs and sometimes imperial imagery in which dragons cavort in the celestial landscape. Rich with courtly symbolism, the robes were likely worn in Buddhist ceremonies at monasteries patronized by the court or within the Forbidden City itself.

Splendid Patchwork: Buddhist Monastic Robes

This exhibition features paintings, drawings, prints and more by local high school student artists who participated in a program focused on the impacts of racism as a public health crisis, sponsored by Mia&#8217;s partner, Blue Cross® and Blue Shield® of Minnesota. Students were asked to reimagine a work in Mia&#8217;s collection under the lens of racism. Artists Kprecia Ambers, Nancy Ariza, Lissa Karpeh, Juan Lucero, Jacob Olson, and Akiko Ostlund, whose work is also on view, worked with students during multiple visits to create this powerful exhibition.
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Racism as a Public Health Crisis: Teens Reimagine the Collection

Two Twin Citians have promised a remarkable collection of Dutch paintings, currently on loan to Mia, as a gift to the museum. To celebrate their generosity, this exhibition presents the core of the collection: a richly varied group of pictures painted in the Netherlands during the 1600s. Landscapes, still lifes, scenes of daily life, and other imagery transport us to a time when the Dutch were pressing for independence from Habsburg Spain, striving to assert their national identity through art focused on local people, places, and customs. At the same time, many Dutch artists were avid travelers and infused their work with visions of distant places, especially Italy. Marked by touches of humor—and occasionally danger—this delightful collection rewards close looking.

L2022.99.1

Destined for Mia: A Collection of Dutch Paintings

The most frequented places are often among the least noticed–including the humble counter. In restaurants, kitchens, and stores, counters are sites of preparation, display, communication, and more. As a verb, “to counter” implies opposition, but also holds the potential for dialogue. The photographs in this exhibition center the counter as a dynamic site of interaction and labor, revealing to us both what has happened and what could happen in the future.

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Ongoing Exhibitions

Engineered for Domestic Bliss

Domestic Idols

Collage/Assemblage Part II: 1990-Now