Upcoming Exhibitions

One of the 20th century’s most influential artists, Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925-2008) defined his oeuvre by using ordinary, non-traditional materials to create distinct works of art. His “combines” hovered between painting and sculpture, and incorporated a range of media and techniques. Rauschenberg often used photography in his work and layered images to render provocative narratives or observations about the world around him. America Mix, a portfolio of 16 photogravures, features photographs of found vignettes or objects Rauschenberg encountered during his travels around the US. He found beauty in the mundane, such as a dilapidated rag hanging from the gas cap of an abandoned truck or the inadvertent still life of trashed objects resting on the curb. Rarely exhibited from the Tampa Museum of Art’s collection, the entirety of this portfolio will be on view.

In Fall 2019, the Tampa Museum of Art will present the exhibition series Ordinary/Extraordinary: Assemblage in Three Acts. The series simultaneously presents three discrete shows focused on works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Purvis Young, and a selection of 20^th- and 21st-century Haitian Vodou flags. The use of found objects, such as discarded wood and textiles, formally links the exhibitions together. More importantly, historical and socio-economic narratives informed by the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora, the Black experience in America, as well as European artistic influences, unite the artists featured in the series. Although each is a stand-alone show, viewed together, the series explores provocative portrayals of race, identity, spirituality, survival, and hope in a range of assemblage objects and compositions.

The first act, Ordinary/Extraordinary: Jean-Michel Basquiat, focuses on Basquiat’s Untitled (Word on Wood), 1985, one of the artist’s unique wood slat paintings. The exhibition will present a close look and formal analysis of Untitled (Word on Wood ), as well as examine the artist’s distinct visual vocabulary. Related materials and films will further contextualize Basquiat’s art and legacy. One of the most celebrated artists of the late 20^th century, Basquiat’s short yet influential career heralded new directions in abstract figuration and mark making.

In Fall 2019, the Tampa Museum of Art will present the exhibition series Ordinary/Extraordinary: Assemblage in Three Acts. The series simultaneously presents three discrete shows focused on works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Purvis Young, and a selection of 20^th- and 21st-century Haitian Vodou flags. The use of found objects, such as discarded wood and textiles, formally links the exhibitions together. More importantly, historical and socio-economic narratives informed by the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora, the Black experience in America, as well as European artistic influences, unite the artists featured in the series. Although each is a stand-alone show, viewed together, the series explores provocative portrayals of race, identity, spirituality, survival, and hope in a range of assemblage objects and compositions.

Ordinary/Extraordinary: Purvis Young, act two in the series, presents for the first time the depth of the 91 Purvis Young (American, 1943-2010) works in the Tampa Museum of Art’s collection. Young, a self-taught artist, created thousands of assemblages with imagery of protesters, pregnant women, and warriors on wood remnants, cabinets, and doors.

In Fall 2019, the Tampa Museum of Art will present the exhibition series Ordinary/Extraordinary: Assemblage in Three Acts. The series simultaneously presents three discrete shows focused on works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Purvis Young, and a selection of 20^th- and 21st-century Haitian Vodou flags. The use of found objects, such as discarded wood and textiles, formally links the exhibitions together. More importantly, historical and socio-economic narratives informed by the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora, the Black experience in America, as well as European artistic influences, unite the artists featured in the series. Although each is a stand-alone show, viewed together, the series explores provocative portrayals of race, identity, spirituality, survival, and hope in a range of assemblage objects and compositions.

Ordinary/Extraordinary: Haitian Vodou Flags, will be curated by artist Edouard Duval-Carrié (Haitian, b. 1954) from the Gessen Collection of Haitian Vodou flags, one of the largest collections of Haitian Vodou (or “voodoo”) flags in the world. Made of discarded burlap bags, repurposed fabric, beads, and sequins, the Vodou flags represent Haiti’s spiritually rich yet often misunderstood Vodou religion. Ordinary/Extraordinary: Haitian Vodou Flags is the first exhibition dedicated to exploring the significance of Haitian Vodou Flags in the United States.

On the eve of the Tampa Museum of Art’s 100^th anniversary in 2020, the exhibition Making of a Museum: 100 Years / 100 Works  from the Permanent Collection, will feature works representative of the institution’s collecting history and mission. The collection is unique—with significant holdings of ancient Greek and Roman art, as well as increased acquisitions of modern and contemporary art. With eight main categories, the collection features a breadth of objects: Classical Antiquities, Prints and Photographs Related to Classical Antiquity, the C. Paul Jennewein Archive, Painting, Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Photography, Works on Paper, and New Media, Video, and Installation Art.

Making of a Museum: 100 Years / 100 Works will present unique insight into how the collection and identity of the Museum has evolved as it has grown from a small local arts organization to the City’s preeminent museum of art.

White Gold is an immersive installation by artist Thomas Sayre (American, b. 1950) and depicts a cotton-filled Southern landscape. The work intends to express the beauty, the complexity, and the tragedy of our embroiled agricultural traditions. Cotton is one of the nation’s most contentious and layered materials, and one with which almost every American has a personal relationship, either directly or indirectly. Inevitably, it is linked to the economic, racial, and social history of the region and its people. Sayre’s White Gold refers to cotton and a reverence for the land, the labor, and the people (forced or unforced) who made cotton their livelihood. The installation is a fierce expression of the Southern landscape: its magnificence and the haunting pain of history, memory, and ultimately, belonging.

White Gold: Thomas Sayre is organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art and the Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh.

Since photography’s inception in the mid-nineteenth century, women have stood among its artistic and technological pioneers. Modern Women/Modern Vision features 100 works from the Bank of America Collection by leading artists of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The exhibition is organized in six thematic sections: Modernist Innovators, Documentary Photography and the New Deal, Photo League, Modern Masters, Exploring the Environment, and The Global Contemporary Lens. Each section examines the photographers’ role in forging new directions and methods in photography, as well as how the medium has evolved with the advent of new digital and studio practices.  Artists featured in this exhibition include Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Tina Barney, Bernd Becher and Hilla Becher, Margaret Bourke-White, Esther Bubley, Imogen Cunningham, Rineke Dijkstra, Candida Höfer, Barbara Kruger, Dorothea Lange, Nikki S. Lee, Helen Levitt, Sonia Handelman Meyer, DoDo Jin Ming, Ruth Orkin, Cindy Sherman, Carrie Mae Weems, and others.

Presented By

This Exhibition has been loaned through the
Bank of America Art in our Communities program.