New St. Petersburg art exhibit ‘Shrimpfinity’ features giant shrimp cocktail

ST. PETERSBURG — A new sculpture takes the oxymoron “jumbo shrimp” to a different level.

Fat pink shrimp sit atop a mound of ruby cocktail sauce, balanced on the rim of a larger-than-life martini glass, garnished with a lemon wedge. It’s one part of “Shrimpfinity,” the newest installation at Fairgrounds St. Pete, the Florida-themed, indoor museum of immersive art and technology that features exhibits created by artists.

It is the creation of Felici Asteinza and Joey Fillastre, who work together under the moniker Milagros Collective. Both artists are based in New Orleans but used to live in Florida.

It’s a pink celebration of the crustacean, with a circular pattern hand-painted on the walls and floors of a new space in Fairgrounds. Shrimp sculptures are strategically placed on the walls, where projections of animated shrimp dance with the reflection of light from a shrimp-shaped disco ball.

Asteinza and Fillastre collaborated with other artists on the project, who created the animation, disco ball and a musical soundtrack. It has an underwater sound with squeaky noises sampled from actual shrimp that can only be described as “shrimpy.”

Milagros Collective is known for site-specific installations of radial patterns that reference sound waves and connectivity and are meant to unify spaces, Fillastre said.

The artists most recently had a large installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville.

Liz Dimmitt, co-founder of Fairgrounds, had been aware of Milagros Collective and approached the group about creating a room for the museum. She said the Fairgrounds team had no idea what they would come up with, but it fits in perfectly at the space that celebrates “weird, wacky and wonderful Florida.”

So why shrimp?

“The pink aesthetic is super fun, and being from the Gulf coast ... (shrimp) have always been a big part of our lives,” Asteinza said.

The installation will remain up for at least a year, Dimmitt said.

What to know if you go to “Shrimpfinity”

“Shrimpfinity” opens on April 28. Admission: $22-$27, free for children 4 and younger. 5 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Monday, noon-7:30 p.m. Thursday, noon-10:30 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Sunday. Fairgrounds St. Petersburg. 2606 Fairfield Ave. S. fairgrounds.art.