Take a walk down West Fortune Street in Tampa, in front of the Barrymore Hotel. You’ll encounter a figure cast in bronze, stationary, but with an expression so focused and a gait so purposeful you half expect him to blow right past you.
“Lennon Walking Into the Future” the statue is called, and it portrays, of course, Beatle John.
The statue’s origins and the identity of its creator reveal its significance and its connection to a similar work sitting 340 miles southeast of Tampa.
The tale begins at an auction at which “Lennon Walking … ” was on the block.
In attendance was Robinson Callen, founder of H.I. Development, parent company of the Barrymore. Should he bid on the Lennon statue? He sought a second opinion.
He sent an image of the work to Larry Collier, director of hotel operations for H.I., who responded as any Beatle fan would: “I love John Lennon.”
Callen, an art lover and collector, bid and won. As Callen and Collier became aware of its background, they realized the statue’s significance.
The statue was commissioned by a Colorado art collector. The collector commissioned the work after seeing the sculptor’s first statue of Lennon, which is in Havana.
That statue was commissioned by the Cuban government, which for years dismissed most popular culture as anti-revolutionary. Now though, Lennon was being hailed by Cuban leader Fidel Castro as a dreamer and a rebel, therefore, presumably, worthy of being cast in bronze.
The statue was unveiled on the 20th anniversary of Lennon’s shooting death, Dec. 8, 2000.
Chosen to create the statue was Cuban artist José Villa Soberón, who is best known for his public art works in Havana, including a life-size Ernest Hemingway seated at the bar of El Floridita, which also is the birthplace of the daiquiri.
Soberón’s work has Lennon seated at one end of a park bench, which allows visitors to sit beside the singer-songwriter for a photo or just some quiet time.
Lennon’s park bench remains a popular attraction, although authorities have had to deal with the constant theft of Lennon’s trademark glasses. Now, a park worker carrying the glasses will place them on Lennon’s nose for visitors but retrieves them afterward.
Unfortunately, Tampa’s Lennon suffered the same fate. These glasses, though, weren’t easily removable.
“The glasses were an integral part of the statue,” Collier said. “Removing them had to be intentional and challenging.”
Collier doesn’t recall exactly when the glasses went missing, but keen-eyed Straz employees first reported their absence, though what year it occurred is a bit foggy. Many Straz staff walk past the statue every day. We did notice when John started sporting specs again, as well as a new addition, a scarf.
“We added the scarf this winter,” Collier said. “John Lennon was frequently seen wearing scarves, so we thought it appropriate.”
Lennon began wearing his glasses again around the same time.
“John Lennon seemed incomplete without his iconic spectacles,” Collier said, “so we purchased a large supply of ‘loaner’ pairs and devised a way for the glasses to rest on the statue without causing it any harm.
“We replace the glasses weekly, if not daily,” Collier said. “While we wish we could reattach them permanently, we would never risk damaging such a beautiful sculpture.”
Collier hopes to have the glasses replaced permanently but knows there’s only one person for that job.
Collier hopes that “Mr. Jose Villa Soberon will one day be able to visit freely and can then replace Lennon’s glasses as they should be.”