local art

Discover artwork that explores the relationship among natural and human-made landscapes.

It’s often difficult to convey the energy, hard work, and dedication that our participating artists and Fairgrounds St. Pete team put into creating the work you get to now enjoy!

Here is a behind-the-scenes look at Eddie Lohmeyer’s Topographia Chlorophobia, a 3-channel video installation is located within CENTCOM.

As with all of the artwork at Fairgrounds St. Pete, Topographia Chlorophobia has a story.

Topographia Chlorophobia explores the relationship among natural and human-made landscapes, focusing on the material excitations that exist within natural and computational ecologies. Here, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation games have been corrupted and meticulously arranged in mask layers. The layers are played in continual loops of glitch patterns. A virtual camera hovers and zooms in upon each channel to reveal uncanny arrangements of pixels, tiles, and color palettes. The video channels are accompanied by a soundscape of birds, flowing water and electrical noise played in surround sound. These strange energies that exist below the surface of game worlds are designed to resemble aerial views and satellite imagery of the Everglades through fragmented rivers, deltas, and swamplands, playfully exploring tensions among Florida as an ecological paradise and commercial hub for simulation and tourism industries.

Eddie Lohmeyer is an Assistant Professor of Digital Media at the University of Central Florida. He received his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in Communications, Rhetoric and Digital Media. His research explores aesthetic and technical developments within histories of digital media, with an emphasis on video games and their relationship to the avant-garde. Additionally, his art explores processes of play and de-familiarization that unveil normal attitudes and perceptions of technologies. Using deconstructive approaches such as glitch, physical modifications to hardware, assemblage, etcetera, his installations, sculptures and videos have been exhibited both nationally and internationally, most recently at 1308 Gallery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ground Level Platform (Chicago, IL), Visual Art Exchange (Raleigh, NC) and the Yeltsin Center in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

To see more of Eddie’s work at Fairgrounds St. Pete, – get your ticket today, and join our Insiders Club for the latest Fairgrounds St. Pete news.

Did you know our iconic Mermaid Star Motel Sign was designed and made by our talented Fairgrounds St. Pete Team?! ⁠It’s often difficult to convey the energy, hard work, and dedication that our participating artists and Fairgrounds St. Pete team put into creating the work you get to now enjoy!⁠ Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the process of making our Mermaid Motel sign.

This behind-the-scenes making-of-video features:⁠
Production Team Enclosing and Hanging
⁠Tech Team Programming & Wiring
⁠Scenic Artist Painting
⁠…and more!⁠

Stay tuned as we continue to reveal exciting, never-before-seen footage! There are more videos like this coming soon…Have you experienced The Mermaid Motel Sign yet?

Escape Reality at Fairgrounds St. Pete – get your ticket today, and join our Insiders Club for the latest Fairgrounds St. Pete news.

Cecilia’s iconic painting, Ballad of the Blue Mermaid, is on view in the Mermaid Star Motel Lobby. Rendered in restorative water blue, the painting celebrates mer-culture and history. About working with Fairgrounds St. Pete, Cecilia says, “I have always been fascinated by the ocean and especially its most magical and elusive creatures, mermaids. So, for me, Fairgrounds St. Pete presented a unique opportunity to create artworks that convey the mysticism of the mermaid along with Florida’s natural beauty. In making Blue Mermaid I was inspired by the captivating Art Nouveau style of Alphonse Mucha, an artist I greatly admire.” In addition to this piece, 20 of Cecilia’s life-like Birds of Tampa Bay can be found through Fairgrounds St. Pete and comprise the bulk of our Bird Brains Scavenger Hunt.

Argentine-American artist Cecilia Lueza is well known for creating vibrant public artworks across the United States and beyond. Throughout her career, she has intensely explored a wide range of artistic media including painting, sculpture and monumental public art installations. Her geometric, nature inspired murals can often be found in unexpected locations such as rooftops and street intersections. Cecilia’s work is a personal expression of her lifelong fascination with the visual effects of color and the concepts of space, movement and transition. Through a meticulous and careful process, she strives to create unique works of art with great visual impact. Since 2000, Cecilia has been working on a variety of private and public art commissions. In the last year she completed public art projects in Tampa Bay, Fort Lauderdale, FL; Jacksonville, FL and Washington, DC, among others.

To see more of Cecilia’s work at Fairgrounds St. Pete, get your ticket today, and join our Insiders Club for the latest Fairgrounds St. Pete news.

For Fairgrounds St. Pete, Liz created Once a Mermaid, Always…., a painting of a vibrant, healthy older woman in a colorful flower swim cap located in the Mermaid Star Motel lobby.

Contemporary artist Liz Schulze’s work reflects the tropical colors and brightness that make the Sunshine State famous and fabulous. Born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a gray and cold place, Liz is truly inspired by St. Pete, whether she’s working with clay or painting a mural. Liz says, “I am so influenced by St. Pete in my art. It’s so uniquely beautiful and exotic. The colors of the sky and sea on any given day give you so much to think about and there’s such a vibrancy to the constantly blooming plants, the sea creatures, the birds and tropical trees…there’s such a lushness that fills my work.”

To see more of Liz’s work at Fairgrounds St. Pete, get your ticket today, and join our Insiders Club for the latest Fairgrounds St. Pete news.

Have you experienced Alley Gator 3030 (AG3030) yet?

We have a difficult time conveying the energy, hard work, and dedication that our Fairgrounds St. Pete team and participating artists put into creating the work you get to now enjoy in our immersive exhibit!

Today we’re sharing some behind the scenes images of the work that went into creating this incredible artwork. Alley Gator 3030 aka AG3030 is by artist Joshua Hall aka Baghead.

As with all of the artwork at Fairgrounds St. Pete, Alley Gator 3030 has a story. Ready to learn more?

The year is 3030, in a post-apocalyptic Florida state where we have built new cities over preexisting swamps and the Everglades. Scientists and engineers have secretly invented hybrid cyborg animals to make up for the number of vanishing species.

During one rainy hurricane season, lightning struck over a pool of radioactive swamp water and sparked an electrical current into a cyborg alligator. It had been dormant inside an abandoned warehouse, left to rust and rot as a relic of these underground science experiments. Alley Gator 3030 (AG3030) thrashed through brick walls until it short-circuited due to inflicting substantial damage onto itself.

A group of urban explorers discovered AG3030 and were entranced by a portal glowing inside the creature’s mouth. They bravely walked through this large gateway which led them to little worlds and beyond…

Check out this fun behind the scenes video of Joshua Hall aka “Baghead” as he talks about immersive artwork, what inspires him, and takes you through the process of creating AG3030!

To see more of Joshua’s work at Fairgrounds St. Pete, get your ticket today, and join our Insiders Club for the latest Fairgrounds St. Pete news.