The hand-picked MGM Springfield Collection demonstrates MGM Resort International’s ongoing commitment to local and regional artists and artisans in the Springfield, greater Berkshires and New England areas; while also reflecting the national and international breadth of the company’s fine art catalog. MGM Springfield showcases commissioned and procured works by visionary local and international sculptors, photographers and mixed-media artists, including Mia Pearlman, Jeppe Hein, Springfield native Marlon Seymour and more.

Commissioned Pieces

• Mia Pearlman – “The Flying Tidings Whirled” – Brooklyn-based artist Mia Pearlman is known for works that blur the line between actual and imagined space. Often glowing with natural or artificial light, her large-scale pieces appear frozen in time. Commissioned for MGM Springfield, The Flying Tidings Whirled is composed of aluminum plates in the form of a spinning tornado, creating a lightweight piece that gives the illusion of blowing in the wind. Named from Emily Dickinson’s poem “There Came a Wind Like a Bugle” (1891), the piece is inspired by Springfield’s perseverance and resiliency in the wake of the 2011 tornado.
   
• Jeppe Hein – “Bench of Expectation” – Jeppe Hein is one of Denmark’s most celebrated contemporary artists. Now based in Berlin, he is known for his sculpturally inventive and conceptually whimsical works, often made for public spaces and social interactions with people. Tasked with designing a functional, captivating work of art for MGM Springfield, Hein created Bench of Expectation – an eye-catching, bright red bench that is prominently displayed in the resort’s outdoor plaza. Part of his ongoing sculpture series, the quirky structure elongates the ubiquitous park bench to an almost Seussian degree with winding loops and slides. Visitors can use it as a typical bench or walk around and through its structure to explore and interact with it.
   
• John Simpson – Indian Motorcycle Mural – John Simpson is a Springfield local and University of Massachusetts art professor known throughout the local art community for his projects, from a Wizard of Oz-themed mural on State Street in downtown Springfield to works for the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum. Simpson developed a 30-foot by 30-foot wall mural of an Indian Motorcycle on the back of the Armory building facing the outdoor plaza and just steps from the brand’s first apparel store.

Procured Works

• Doug Gillette – “Home Sweet Home” – Living and working in Enfield, Conn., Doug Gillette began his professional art career illustrating works for Johns Hopkins University. Home Sweet Home, displayed in MGM Springfield’s gaming area, draws from the area’s deep history with the industrial revolution and is inspired by a vintage radiator Gillette found in a nearby salvage yard.
   
• Carole Guthrie – “After Bacon”; “Horizontal Sun” – A resident of Springfield, Carole Guthrie’s acrylic paintings on canvas utilize abstract imagery, drawing on her experience in watercolor and monotypes. Using a combination of brushes, scrapers and palette knives, Guthrie places opaque shapes against transparent passages. Displayed in the lobby and along the resort halls, After Bacon and Horizontal Sun reflect the dramatic color tones represented throughout the property as well as the unabashed spirit of the surrounding neighborhood.
   
• Harold Grinspoon – “2017 Flame” – Harold Grinspoon’s inspiration for tree sculptures was born at his home in Longmeadow, Mass. For over 20 years Grinspoon has been fascinated by the effects of nature against the struggle of trees as their stories are expressed in weathered skeletons. With many acres of woodlands and hills he began sculpting trees where they stood and within the confines of their natural shape. Prominently displayed in DaVinci Park, Grinspoon’s loaned artwork was carved from a tree originating in Florida and features four sections cut from a single branch, bursting out into flame-like spires.
   
• Marlon Seymour – “New England Dreaming”; “Big Red” – Marlon Seymour grew up in Springfield, Mass. and began painting as a hobby. Self-taught and excelling as a contemporary abstract artist, he has painted more than 700 pieces. Representing the bold city in which his art is displayed, the equally powerful New England Dreaming and Big Red paintings are shown in the property’s gaming area and hotel corridors.
   
• Jason Middlebrook – “The Language of the Grain” – Currently living in Hudson, New York, Jason Middlebrook transforms the complex relationship between nature and technology into works of modern art. With The Language of the Grain, Middlebrook juxtaposed aged, natural materials with contemporary patterns and colors from salvaged wood. The piece is featured in the resort’s entryway.
   
• Brian Rutenberg – “Hollyhocks 2”; “Saluda” – New York-based artist Brian Rutenberg is best known for large abstract paintings composed of fluorescent colors. In his work, Rutenberg uses a warm palette and thick layers of paint in his foregrounds, which contrast the cooler and thinly applied colors of the background. Showcasing Rutenberg’s use of highly textural surfaces. Saluda is displayed within the gaming area and Hollyhocks complements the Presidential Suite’s distinctive, vibrant design.
   
• Isamu Noguchi – “Black & Blue” – Isamu Noguchi, a major American and Japanese sculptor and designer, spent more than six decades creating abstract works based on both organic and geometric forms. His ability to enhance public spaces through sculpture established him as a critical figure in the worlds of art and design. Found in the resort’s meeting space elevator bank, Noguchi’s nearly eight-foot-tall Black & Blue sculpture is made of enameled aluminum and offers a bold representation of post-war sculpture work.
   
• Alexis Smith – “Playing Cards” – Alexis Smith is a contemporary artist living in Los Angeles, Calif., working primarily in collage and installation. For Playing Cards, Smith developed a series of poster-sized patriotic playing cards featuring images in red and blue with text by Walt Whitman, located near the Poker Room.
   
• Joe Wardwell – “Down for Whatever” Series – A professor of painting and drawing at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., Joe Wardwell’s pieces combine imagery from rock and roll culture and landscapes of the American West. Wardwell adds rock song lyrics to his art, implying a relationship to the setting and words chosen. His bright homage to pop art is represented in Down for Whatever, which is featured in the resort’s Executive Lanai Suites.