Cuban artist Esterio Segura’s monumental sculpture Hybrid of a Chrysler will remain on view in the Tampa Museum of Art’s outdoor gallery for an additional two years. On display since June 2024, the work has quickly become a landmark attraction for museum visitors and the Tampa community.
Born in Santiago de Cuba and trained at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana, Segura is internationally recognized for artworks that explore the complexities of daily life in Cuba. His practice frequently incorporates winged animals and machines—airplanes, submarines, and fantastical hybrids—that grapple with themes of freedom, isolation, migration, desire, and exile.
Hybrid of a Chrysler exemplifies this unique approach. The sculpture features airplane wings attached to the roof of a 1953 Chrysler Windsor, evoking the classic cars still seen on Cuban streets. Poised for flight, the vehicle becomes a metaphor for longing, mobility, and escape.
Known as the Version with Passport, this edition of the sculpture premiered at the Tampa Museum of Art in 2016 and has since traveled internationally to Venice, Washington, D.C., Gainesville, and Miami before returning to Tampa.
The work was most recently featured in Under the Spell of the Palm Tree: The Rice Collection of Cuban Art, on view at the Museum from February 6 to July 6, 2025. Segura’s practice is also represented by the Museum’s recent acquisition of his sculpture Good Bye My Love, now installed in the Patel Family Lobby.
The sculpture additionally inspired the art book Hybrid of a Chrysler: A Provocation to Fly, a limited-edition book-object that documents the work’s journey. The volume is available for purchase at the Tampa Museum of Art and on Amazon.
About the Tampa Museum of Art Founded in 1920, the Tampa Museum of Art inspires the community and fosters understanding of visual arts through exhibitions, education, and engagement with ancient, modern, and contemporary art. Learn more at www.tampamuseum.org.
About The Cuban Arts Group The Cuban Arts Group is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting Cuban artists and fostering cultural exchange through exhibitions, publications, and educational initiatives. Learn more at www.thecubanartsgroup.org.
Image credits: Tampa Museum of Art, photographed by Paige Boscia
Source: The Cuban Arts Group
