TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A highly-anticipated giant flamingo statue art piece is still being constructed at Tampa International Airport, but its main pieces are already a hit.
The 21-foot flamingo sculpture is called “Home” by artist Matthew Mazzotta. It’s located in the main terminal, near the Shoppes at Bayshore.
The announcement of the art piece was made two years ago.
“The idea came from, actually, some of my own travels. I was shortlisted to work on this project,” said Mazzotta. “The airport had certain ideas of what they wanted, and I kept on thinking, ‘how do we bring in this idea of atmosphere. How do we make sure the project has these nice sightlines, so you can see through it, what would work?”
He said he saw an egret on a previous trip and thought it was interesting.
“[I] thought ‘okay, this is interesting. Birds. Birds and airplanes. Okay, maybe there’s something here.’ And as I got to Tampa, I started looking around at all the flamingos and I was like, ‘okay, I think I know what I’m doing here,” he explained.
Mazzotta has ties to the Tampa Bay area with family here. Five minutes, 30 minutes and an hour away from the airport, he estimated.
The sculpture is one of seven new art commissions approved by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Board on Thursday as part of a public art program designed to enhance and beautify TPA’s new facilities.
For Mazzotta, he works internationally, but his next few projects are within the United States. He has a new piece heading to Los Angeles, and a work honoring a Civil Rights activist being installed in Wichita, Kansas.
