Director hopes exhibits redefine Tampa Museum

With an ambitious exhibit schedule that ranges from the celebrated works of Henri Matisse to introducing video artists, the new Tampa Museum of Art will try to redefine itself as a vibrant urban destination, according to executive director Todd Smith.

Smith said Monday that by 2011 most of the exhibits will be created by the museum with a focus on video art as well as things that are distinctive, such as an exhibit devoted to the Sarasota style of architecture and an antiquities exhibit devoted to Poseidon, God of the Sea.

He says the goal is to draw new visitors to the $33 million, 66,000-square-foot facility in downtown Tampa that opens in February 2010. The structure, with its three-story atrium, 16 skylights, fiber optic outside lighting and polished concrete floors, will be a work of art itself, he said.

After opening with a collection of prints, paintings and sculpture by French painter Matisse, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century (through April), the museum will feature a Danish artist who works in film.

A collection of four short films by Jesper Just will follow the Matisse exhibit.

"Just is a hot, young video artist and his work is a good introduction to video art," says Smith who plans to build on the museum's current collection of photograph works by expanding into video.

Rounding out 2010, from September to early January will be "American Impressionists in the Garden," a collection of more than 40 works of American impressionists interpreting garden settings.

The first year will feature traveling exhibits created by other museums but in 2011 all the major
exhibits will be created in house, he said.

"A lot of what we hope to do is build our own exhibits, curating them from collections around the country and the world, allowing us to put our own stamp on who we are," he said.

Those exhibits include: "American Modernism," featuring 100 works from the private collection of Mark and Irene Kauffman; "Sarasota Modern Architecture," a look at mid-century regional architectural movement influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and others; and Poseidon in the Ancient World" which will be the first ever exhibition devoted to the mythical god of the sea.