SAVE THE DATE: Friday, September 5th is the opening celebration for USF Contemporary Art Museum’s new exhibition, Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion.
Join us at 6pm in USF Theatre 2, adjacent to the museum, for a conversation with artist Brian Maguire, film director Mark Mc Loughlin, and CAM Curator-at-Large Christian Viveros-Fauné.
Following the conversation, join us next door at CAM for an opening reception until 9pm.
Free and open to all. For questions or more information send us a DM, an email at
Y2FtaW5mbyB8IHVzZiAhIGVkdQ==, or call 813-974-4133.
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ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion
September 5, 2025 – March 7, 2026
USF Contemporary Art Museum
La Grande Illusion is a major exhibition of works by internationally acclaimed artist, Brian Maguire. The exhibition spans two decades of work that spotlights the artist’s lifelong quest to draw attention to global injustices, war, and human rights. One of Ireland's leading cultural figures, Maguire has turned the practice and tradition of painting into acts of visual testimony.
Maguire’s paintings are global in scope and are derived from projects undertaken between 2007 and 2024 in Mexico, the Mediterranean, Syria, Sudan, the United States, and the Amazon. Maguire's artworks are painted from direct experience and involve the artist spending extensive time on the ground with the communities that welcome him. The results are, plainly put, paintings that visualize the commonality of human suffering and dramatize the plight of people in need.
Maguire’s work has been celebrated in museums and galleries worldwide, igniting critical conversations on human rights through his intimate and visceral canvases. In representing populations erased by textbook history, official art, the media, and state institutions, Maguire reminds us of how the practice of painting can be made to matter.
Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion has been adapted by USFCAM Curator-at-Large Christian Viveros-Fauné from the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin’s exhibition of the same name (it was originally co-curated by Barbara Dawson, Hugh Lane Gallery Director, and Michael Dempsey, Head of Exhibitions). It is accompanied by a brochure and a full-length catalog featuring essays by writers Lucy Cotter, Marc Donnadieu, Michael Dempsey and Viveros-Fauné. Also on view inside USFCAM’s galleries: the 2025 documentary The Life of Brian (Maguire) described in the press as “The incredible life story of an internationally renowned artist who goes to the frontline to tell the real story of the world.” The Life of Brian (Maguire) was directed by Mark Mc Loughlin for Bang Bang Teo and supported by RTÉ, Hugh Lane Gallery and Creative Ireland.
Brian Maguire: La Grande Illusion is organized by USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa. Support for the exhibition is provided by a grant from Culture Ireland, The Stanton Storer Embrace the Arts Foundation, Shumaker Inc. / Ronald Christaldi, the Lee and Victor Leavengood Contemporary Art Museum Endowment Fund, the Kathleen Binnicker Swann Endowment, and the Allen W. and Janet G. Root CAM Endowment.
Also check out other Arts events in Temple Terrace, Fine Arts events in Temple Terrace, Exhibitions in Temple Terrace.
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