Julian Zugazagoitia, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, interprets the life and art of Francisco Toledo, one of today’s most important Mexican artists.

Toledo is a master printmaker, draftsman, painter, sculptor, and ceramist. His art reflects his Mexican heritage while his hybrid creatures, part human and part animal, display a heightened sense of the fantastic. The works of Jean Dubuffet and Paul Klee as well as the writings of Franz Kafka and Jorge Borges influence Toledo’s art.

The event complements Fantastic Zoology on display in the East Mezzanine Gallery of the Central Library through May 29, 2011.