Tampa International Airport’s giant flamingo is getting a few starfish friends.

The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority on Thursday approved a new $389,220 mural and marble installation by Swiss artist Claudia Comte for the main terminal entry to its forthcoming $690 million Airside D terminal.

Selected from 734 submissions, the work, titled The Starfish Family | Dancing Algae features one of Comte’s signature black and white line murals in a pattern inspired by the airport’s logo; along with three white marble starfish that passengers can sit on.

Comte’s proposal said the lines represent “the regular and constant movement of waves or like algae dancing in the water ... The background motif captures notions of fluidity and continuous flow while standing in contrast to the quiet inertia of the white marble sculptures. Here, perpetual movement and suspended stillness coexist.”

The name drew a lighthearted jab from Tampa Mayor Jane Castor at Thursday’s Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Board meeting.

“Love Claudia Comte’s work," Castor said, “but Dancing Algae — does she know that’s not our friend?”

She added with a laugh: "It’s beautiful.”

Airside D, originally targeted for completion by 2024, was among more than $900 million in construction projects pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic. Comte’s work is still scheduled to go up in 2024.

By the time it opens, Tampa International Airport will have already welcomed a number of new public art installations coming in at a cost of nearly $2.5 million. Among the most anticipated: Home, a 21-foot-tall, $520,000 pink flamingo sculpture by Matthew Mazzotta in the main terminal.

The airport had originally planned to install the flamingo by November, but that, too, was pushed back due to the pandemic and other delays.

“It’s one thing to propose the concepts,” said Chris Minner, the airport’s executive vice president of communications. "It’s another to actually figure out all of the mechanical connections and how everything is going to work. We’re making progress. At this point, I think we’re looking at early next year to be able to bring that on.”

Airport CEO Joe Lopano said that even before hatching, the flamingo has drawn plenty of attention.

“After we announced the art program and we showed the flamingo, we had more than a few people come out here looking for the flamingo,” he said. “They’re like, ‘Where is it? I just saw it in the paper.’ So people are excited about it.”

———

©2020 the Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.)

Visit the Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.) at www.tampabay.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.