Enjoying the Tampa Museum's Centennial Renovation

Carole and Libbie with work by KACE 

The Tampa Museum of Art completed its Centennial Renovation earlier this year, and the transformation is dramatic. The change is noticeable the moment you walk into the Museum. A soaring atrium welcomes you into the space, with an open staircase leading to the galleries. The exhibit space has been tripled -- seven new galleries were created -- and the education center was significantly expanded as well. And the Museum is not done yet. The next phase of the project is a 55,000 square foot expansion with a "crystalline pier" that will extend to the edge of the Hillsborough River. It is going to be magnificent, although the new and improved space is pretty fabulous in and of itself. 

"Floating Flowers Fuschia and Gold" by Naeem Khan

The lobby features multiple works by Naeem Khan working alone and in collaboration with Stanley Casselman under the name KACE. Khan is best known as a fashion designer. His family is a big name in the textile industry in India, so Naeem grew up around fashion. He was a bit of a troublemaker, though, and his parents thought going to school in New York would get him away from the bad influences of his youth. (Insert your own thought on that judgement here.) And so his father took Naeem with him on a business trip with thoughts of enrolling him at FIT. But fate intervened. Before he made it to the registrar, Naeem joined his father at a meeting with Halston. Naeem and Halston immediately clicked, and Naeem signed on as an assistant to the fashion legend. He has never looked back. Naeem's friends in the day included Andy Warhol, and I can see Warhol's poppies in these collaborative creations. 

The idea of creating art qua art didn't occur to Khan until Stanley Casselman approached him in 2020 after a fashion show. The abstract artist knew Khan's work would translate well into painting. Today Khan creates visual art on his own and with Kasselman. He hasn't, however, given up his day job as a designer. To see some of those creations, click here. And for a great interview with Khan, click here.     

"The High Road" by Clifton Henri (2019)

We were all extremely taken with Clifton Henri's "The High Road." It's a terrific image with a great message. 

As a kid, Henri would make lunch money by selling his drawings of characters from Saturday morning cartoons and girls' names in bubble letters. (Remember those?) But as he -- and his art -- matured, Henri realized he couldn't capture the images in his head on a canvas. And so he turned to photography. 

His work features Black and Brown people who represent Clifton and his life experience. His mantra has always been "We Are Fine Art Too" despite the fact that he didn't see himself and his community reflected on the walls of the museums he frequented as a young man. The artists he cites as influences are as varied as Norman Rockwell and Edward Hopper and Gordon Parks. For him, they are visual storytellers of the highest caliber. 

On a trip to Ghana, Henri saw a group of boys playing on a street where tires had been abandoned. One boy placed a tire upright, climbed up and stood surveying the landscape for almost a minute. This is the moment captured in "The High Road." The name comes from First Lady Michelle Obama's quote, "When they go low, we go high." The title is also aspirational as he encourages this boy and others like him to keep their heads up while facing discrimination, struggle and adversity. To see more of Henri's work, click here. And to read an interview with him, click here. 

"Aphrodite Reimagined" by Patricia Cronin (2018)

I'll leave you with Patricia Cronin's "Aphrodite Reimagined." The Museum is known for its antiquities collection, and a fragment of a 1st century AD marble torso of the goddess of love and beauty owned by the Museum provided the inspiration for this work. Cronin created her sculpture -- along with some multi-layered paintings -- for a 2018 exhibit entitled "Aphrodite and the Lure of Antiquity: Conversations with the Collection." Sadly, I missed that one. But we can see the exhibit by clicking here. Hyperallergic's review called the installation "ravishing," and I see why.

Standing ten feet tall, Cronin's Aphrodite is a bit more commanding than the original. But the more significant difference is that Cronin has "completed" the sculpture by adding a head, arms and legs made from translucent glass. Interestingly, in an 18th c. restoration of the sculpture, a head from another work was attached. (I'm curious about that. How was it attached? Was it passed off as the original head? But I digress.) Cronin's incorporation of different mediums in her sculpture is intended to serve as a metaphor for the way our interpretation of history shifts over time. Isn't that the truth? The work can be exhibited either inside or on the plaza. Aphrodite was situated in a gallery the day we visited, but I bet it would be even more striking outside with the sun reflecting off the glass. To visit Cronin's website, click here. Her work is thoughtful and engaging, and I hope to see more in the future. 

Next up: "A Passion for Haitian Art: The Albrecht and Heller Collections" at the Tampa Museum of Art