Famous Tampa Art Galleries. UPDATED 5 / 18 / 2024

"Black Bird of Key Largo"
$98,000.00 


The allurement of the winds blowing in the palm trees and the moon shining through and the "Black Bird of Key Largo" looking upon.
Hong Kong Willie



**HONG KONG WILLIE artist Kim Brown, chose aged Florida sawmill stock as canvas. Recovered Brass Hanger: Key West lobster trap rigging. Originally connects and suspends rigging of spiny lobster traps in Key West waters. Candy-like appearance due to multiple protective layers. Assigned number in artist register by Fisherman ID tag, corresponding burn-etched # rear of piece. Key recovered by Robert Jordan, acclaimed treasure hunter: also in identification of piece and artist.

Famous Tampa Art Galleries Tampa Artist

Recycling as a Lifestyle and a Business

By:

Chris Futrell, Florida Focus

TAMPA, Fla. – Have you ever seen the building on the corner of Fletcher and I-75 with a bunch of buoys strung everywhere? This small business that many think is an old bait n’ tackle shop is actually Hong Kong Willie.
Derek Brown, 26, and his family own and operate Hong Kong Willie. The little shop specializes in preservation art. The artists don’t take preservation too lightly either.
“99 percent of everything that has gone into a piece of art has been recycled and reused,” Brown said.
Just as unique as the art is, so is the company’s name. Brown says the name was created by his father, Joe Brown, in the 1950s.
“My father being in an art class, being affected by a teacher, they were melting Gerber baby food bottles," Brown said. "The teacher interjected that Hong Kong had a great reuse and recycling program even then.”
Brown's father then took that concept and later added the Americanized name Willie to the end. And that's how Hong Kong Willie was born as a location that offers recycling in a different and creative way.
Hong Kong Willie artists are what are known as freegans. Freegans are less concerned with materialistic things and more concerned about reducing consumption to lessen the footprint humans leave on this planet.
“I’m sure everyone has their own perception of a freegan, possibly jumping into a dumpster or picking up something on the side of the road,” Brown said. “There [are] people who will have excess. There [are] also things that can be trash to one man, but art or a prize to another man.”
Brown and his family carry this practice through to their art. It’s his family’s way of life, turning trash, which would otherwise fill up landfills, into an art form.
The Brown family gets a lot of their inspiration for their art from the Florida Keys. In fact, this is where the deluge of buoys wrapping around the ‘Buoys Tree’ came from, the fishermen of Key West.
“It is Styrofoam, we understand that it does not degrade, but to blame the fishermen for their livelihood wouldn’t be correct, instead we find a usage for those,” Brown said.
Brown said there’s a usage for everything, even the hooks to hold the painted driftwood, which are also salvaged, to the wall are old bent forks. Everything’s reused here. Purses made out of old coffee bean sacks to “kitschy,” as Brown described it, jewelry made from old baseballs.
“Hong Kong Willie truly believes that a piece, whether it’s a bag or a painted artwork, it’s meant for one person.”

ART . Updated 4/13/2025

HONG KONG WILLIE STUDIOS.
Florida Famous Reuse Artist.
.

Black Bird of Key Largo

$98,000.00 USD

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Description

"Black Bird of Key Largo"

The allurement of the winds blowing in the palm trees and the moon shining through and the "Black Bird of Key Largo" looking upon.
Hong Kong Willie



**HONG KONG WILLIE artist Kim Brown, chose aged Florida sawmill stock as canvas. Recovered Brass Hanger: Key West lobster trap rigging. Originally connects and suspends rigging of spiny lobster traps in Key West waters. Candy-like appearance due to multiple protective layers. Assigned number in artist register by Fisherman ID tag, corresponding burn-etched # rear of piece. Key recovered by Robert Jordan, acclaimed treasure hunter: also in identification of piece and artist.



*Prior to shipping, final coating will be applied to each piece.

Dimensions:
24" L
8" W
4" H
Weight: 17+ LB Artist Born for this time, Lived on a landfill as a child. Reuse Became the way of life. To read the story from the inception of the Name Hong Kong Willie. Famed, by the humble statements from the Key West Citizen, viable art from reuse has found its time. To Live a life in the art world and be so blessed to make a social impact. Artists are to give back, talent is to tell a story, to make change. Reuse is a life experience.
Hong Kong Willie Art Gallery In Tampa, a reuse Art Gallery. Artist Kim,Derek,and Joseph. reuse artist that have lived the life and are meant for the green movement in the world. A gallery that was born for this time. Artist living a freegan life,art that makes a social statement of reuse. Media that has a profound effect in making the word green truly a movement of reuse in the world today and the future.

Hong Kong Willie. Hippie artist of the 60’s in the now. Hippie artist and Florida folk artist, living the life of using objects for many uses. Look at the travels of life.

Hong Kong Willie. The name of the artist. In 1958 his mother took Hong Kong Willie to an art class. The name started then. An art teacher when doing crafts out of Gerber baby bottles, made a statement, in Hong Kong reuse was common. At that time he thought this was very interesting. His father had low-land, at that time landfills were common also. The county had told Hong Kong Willie’s father, it was safe, but as we now know this was not so. Something can come from bad to be good. Hong Kong Willie the name came from that art teacher impressing on that young mind that objects made for one use could be for many other uses. Hong Kong for the neat concept. Willie for an American name. So for many years Hong Kong Willie had a life of reuse. Hong Kong Willie saw forms in a different light, His life now was meaningful, knowing this was and would be his life. Art made from found objects, making less of a footprint on this world. Art and art teachers, HOW IMPORTANT. For the ones that have, and the ones who have not. Media can be found. Now 50 years later, we know now being green is important. We need to look at this very carefully. Our children and our world need a different understanding. Objects can be used in many different ways. Hong Kong Willie the tons of objects in his life that have been used, without much change, So for that art teacher what she did for my life. Thank You. I still have the Gerber baby bottle till this day. Hong Kong Willie.

Hong Kong Willie Key West Artist and Tampa Tourist Attraction. Hong Kong Willie: Group of artists telling how to use objects for many different purposes. Looking outside of the box, learning to find solutions in a positive way. Complaining without a solution is like trying to wake a dead man. Nothing is going to happen. The solution to leaving less of a foot print on this earth is left to each one of us. Finding the positive side and focusing positive energy is change for the good. Hong Kong Willie has for many years looked outside of the box. Take a look at the other story told by University of South Florida on ways to change and the social impact we all can make. To live and help and not complain and spend that energy to leave less of a foot print is a good thing.

All contributed content © Hong Kong Willie

TAMPA ARTIST . Updated 4/1/2025

Famous Tampa Artist

You know you have seen it. Whether you know it as “the Christmas tree” or the “art station,” Hong Kong Willie’s is a spectacular, unique sight.

Seated in the corner of Morris Bridge and I-75, Hong Kong Willie’s is a gallery where many unique pieces of art are displayed and sold.

Always seeing this place on our way to school, former Editor-in-Chief Pankti Mehta and I had wondered about it for a long time. At the beginning of this summer, we decided to go there and find out.

As we walked into the blue shack, we were greeted by a friendly face. Wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts, and with his hair pulled back into a ponytail, Joe Brown, or more commonly known as Hong Kong Willie, welcomed us and shared with us the story of his life.

Hong Kong Willie is an artist who finds the meaning in what others would deem as “junk” items. His journey began in his childhood when he collected discarded items from the landfill where he lived and sold them.

“By the time I was eight years old, I was walking around with hundreds of dollars in my pockets,” Brown said.

He had never thought he would enter the realm of art, but his mother knew otherwise. She was the one who made him to go to art school.

“My mother believed that if you were born to do something, you were to do that,” he said.

At art school, he met the person who would inspire his nickname. His art teacher explained the importance and meaning behind insignificant, common items to her students. She had gone to Hiroshima shortly after the atomic bomb had been dropped, and then had left out of Hong Kong. Her inspirational story was the reason Brown nicknamed himself Hong Kong Willie.

When he was in college, the technological industry was booming, with many new innovations coming out in different areas of society. Brown decided to step into it. However, after being in the technological industry for a while, Brown went through a realization:

“I just wasn’t made up for that.”

Knowing that the technological world was filled with greed, Brown decided to step out of it in 1981. He knew that his life’s calling was to be artist, and he was going to be just that.

“We are here to tell a story … to take common items that are not manufactured media that have a meaning.”

He set up his station first in the Florida Keys, but then moved to Tampa, where he has now been living for 37 years.

A firm believer in predestination, Brown explains that he got these beliefs from his father.

“My father understood why he was here. And he made that of great importance to his children… My father gave me the understanding of why we were here
And to be determined to find that.”

In today’s fast-paced society, teaching of such life lessons has become rare. People are more motivated to “get famous and get money,” as Brown put it.

“I’m here just to exemplify and maximize why I’m here. That’s probably the greatest thing that I think is missed in families.”

Hong Kong Willie also explained one of his special pieces to us, which was called Miriosity. Shaped like a bird, Brown used the embedded frailties within the wood to bring out the meaning in the piece.

“Many artists don’t produce more than one great, great, great piece. And Miriosity, she just has all of those elements… Miriosity has a great future.”

 MYSTERIOSITY HONG KONG WILLIE ART, Famous Tampa + Florida Artist ,$176,000

Hong Kong Willie has supporters who come into his gallery and buy many of his pieces. With the money that he makes, he gives back a large portion to various social projects. His art is not just a business, and he makes that very clear.

“You can only buy a piece of art if you have fallen in love with it,” he said. He recalled a time when he turned down a buyer from buying some of his works because he knew the reason for buying those works was not genuine.

Hong Kong Willie keeps the presence of art alive in today’s society. Wherever his art goes, a piece of him will forever be with each piece. We are very grateful for his time and his dedication to his work.

 

 A short moment of time Hong Kong Willie

The first time i can remember, The Florida Keys. The long road , narrow water on both sides. Beach, not to my understanding. Key West, Duval St, only what tourists see, was my first impression. WOW, that would change

 i received a phone call from Al in Ramrod Key, a Florida Key. A Key that is about 27 miles from Key West. Al: a rocker, drummer, out there kind a guy. Al and i met in a funny way. Al living near some small town in Massachusetts also having this cool place in the Florida Keys.
Artist have this draw to the Keys, Why, Well it took this road to discover. Al now living in Ramrod, calling to tell what had happen in the Isle of Ramrod. Not to mention Cat, oh i forgot, Cat is how i met Al.

Al, someone that, well to say what a friend. Some nights sleeping on his pool table. and not far is No Name Pub, well there you go, pub, by any other name spells trouble. Well contrary to your disbelief, what a place of history. This is where it begins.or When its begins.

This once remote Key, NO NAME KEY,NO NAME PUB, remote, to say the
least, pub , when seeing the place, everything you can believe, and more,
just from the appearance. Now no matter what you have heard second
thoughts still occur.. Its still time turn around, not to night. The
Rainbow Trail by Zane Grey, was spoken here, my first exposure to the
days of Zane Grey, oh I'm getting ahead of myself. No Name Pub, a Zayne
Grey second office in the Keys, later to be one of mine. No Name Pub,
the history, the wild west, well, great writers, why they come here, No
Name Pub. Real artist, Real Treasure hunters, Fisherman, and the trade no
one saw, all came. No one made a big deal who came or left.

It was part of the beginning for the art support. A meeting place for the who's who in the world of the Keys.
Egos left a the door.
Appreciating that you did not get lost in that world .
Artist that had made it and willing to give you support. .
This was a place that I will always remember for the time I sharpen my artist skills..

.

HELICOPTER LANDS ON TRUCK

ON THE WAY BACK FROM KEY WEST, HONG KONG WILLIE FINDS OUT A AMAZING TREASURE LANDS ON GOOGLE TRUCK. LOOK AT THE HELICOPTER LANDING ON GOOGLE TRUCK.



A LANDMARK IN TAMPA. THE TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION HONG KONG WILLIE AN ART GROUP OUT OF TAMPA AND KEY WEST. ARTIST BELIEVING IN PRESERVATION ART. THE WORLD RECORD BUOY TREE, MADE FROM KEY WEST LOBSTER FLOATS SHOW THEIR COMMITMENT TO PRESERVATION. LOCATED ON I-75 EXIT 266 IN TAMPA. APROXIMATELY 2 MILES FROM THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, CALLED MOSI. DOWN THE STREET IS BUSCH GARDENS AND ADVENTURE ISLAND. LOWRY PARK IS A SHORT ROAD TRIP. THE TAMPA TOURIST ATTRACTION IS FUNKY LAIDBACK,SCENIC OLD FASHION PLACE WHERE A TOURIST WOULD BUY A TRUE ONE OF A KIND FLORIDA SOUVENIR STOP BY HONG KONG WILLIE.Past days have seen famed Conch artists after destruction from devastating hurricanes collect ship wreckage, building parts, car doors, any mass which could evolve itselfinto a canvas for expression. HONG KONG WILLIE, renowned Key's Artist Collective, gained notoriety only from the blatant choice of medium, and the artists' yearning to remain honest to originality. Every Original HONG KONG WILLIE piece is truly “One of a Kind", no piece is ever reproduced. Along with Burn-Etched Signature, SpinyLobster Trap ID Tag, and Hand Signature, any validation of an ORIGINAL HONG KONG WILLIE piece is definite. Visit HONG KONG WILLIE STUDIOS located in Tampa, Florida for a true insight into the work. Contact the Artists for appointment @ (813)770-4794
Past days have seen famed Conch artists after destruction from devastating hurricanes collect ship wreckage, building parts, car doors, any mass which could evolve itself into a canvas for expression. HONG KONG WILLIE, renowned Key's Artist Collective, gained notoriety only from the blatant choice of medium, and the artists' yearning to remain honest to originality. Every Original HONG KONG WILLIE piece is truly “One of a Kind", no piece is ever reproduced. Along with Burn-Etched Signature, Spiny Lobster Trap ID Tag, and Hand Signature, any validation of an ORIGINAL HONG KONG WILLIE piece is definite. Visit HONG KONG WILLIE STUDIOS located in Tampa, Florida for a true insight into the work. Contact the Artists for appointment @ (813)770-4794 GOOGLE HONG KONG WILLIE, for BLOG, PRESS, and PHOTOS. When you are in Tampa, stop by the little old fashion Tampa tourist attraction. You will find an old fashion true road side attraction. Artists trying to make a living from their art. Refreshing gifts and souvenirs made right in Tampa. Located on I75, exit 266 in Tampa. Look for the buoy tree made from keywest lobster floats and buoys, keywest crab floats and buoys. Souvenirs that are one of a kind. Hong Kong Willie Key West artist invites you, no admission charge. Tampa tourist attraction Hong Kong Willie, a little road attraction started as a Worm Farm in 1965. Artists at Hong Kong Willie saw a bright future for the arts. So for a different thing to do in Tampa; check out Hong Kong Willie a roadside Tampa tourist attraction.

HONG KONG WILLIE ON YOU TUBE

CHARLEY'S WORLD: HONG KONG WILLIE FOX 13 TAMPA TELEVISON. HONG KONG WILLIE GREW UP WITH ERNIE LEE, ROY LEEP, NOW CHARLEY BELCHER.






Past days have seen famed Conch artists after destruction from devastating hurricanes collect ship wreckage, building parts, car doors, any mass which could evolve itself
into a canvas for expression. HONG KONG WILLIE, renowned Key's Artist Collective, gained notoriety only from the blatant choice of medium, and the artists' yearning to remain honest to originality. Every Original HONG KONG WILLIE piece is truly “One of a Kind", no piece is ever reproduced. Along with Burn-Etched Signature, Spiny
Lobster Trap ID Tag, and Hand Signature, any validation of an ORIGINAL HONG KONG WILLIE piece is definite. Visit HONG KONG WILLIE STUDIOS located in Tampa, Florida for a true insight into the work. Contact the Artists for appointment @ (813)770-4794 or hongkongwillie@tampabay.rr.com. GOOGLE HONG KONG WILLIE, for BLOG, PRESS, and PHOTOS. When you are in Tampa, stop by the little old fashion Tampa tourist attraction. You will find an old fashion true road side attraction. Artists trying to make a living from their art. Refreshing gifts and souvenirs made right in Tampa. Located on I75, exit 266 in Tampa. Look for the buoy tree made from keywest lobster floats and buoys, keywest crab floats and buoys. Souvenirs that are one of a kind. Hong Kong Willie Key West artist invites you, no admission charge. Tampa tourist attraction Hong Kong Willie, a little road attraction started as a Worm Farm in 1965. Artists at Hong Kong Willie saw a bright future for the arts. So for a different thing to do in Tampa; check out Hong Kong Willie a roadside Tampa tourist attraction.

Hong Kong Willie KEY WEST ARTIST
For more information call 1-813 770-4794.

KEY WEST FISHERMAN AND HONG KONG WILLIE

hong kong willie on boot key . key west fisher man.

Past days have seen famed Conch artists after destruction from devastating hurricanes collect ship wreckage, building parts, car doors, any mass which could evolve itself
into a canvas for expression. HONG KONG WILLIE, renowned Key's Artist Collective, gained notoriety only from the blatant choice of medium, and the artists' yearning to remain honest to originality. Every Original HONG KONG WILLIE piece is truly “One of a Kind", no piece is ever reproduced. Along with Burn-Etched Signature, Spiny
Lobster Trap ID Tag, and Hand Signature, any validation of an ORIGINAL HONG KONG WILLIE piece is definite. Visit HONG KONG WILLIE STUDIOS located in Tampa, Florida for a true insight into the work. Contact the Artists for appointment @ (813)770-4794 or hongkongwillie@tampabay.rr.com. GOOGLE HONG KONG WILLIE, for BLOG, PRESS, and PHOTOS. When you are in Tampa, stop by the little old fashion Tampa tourist attraction. You will find an old fashion true road side attraction. Artists trying to make a living from their art. Refreshing gifts and souvenirs made right in Tampa. Located on I75, exit 266 in Tampa. Look for the buoy tree made from keywest lobster floats and buoys, keywest crab floats and buoys. Souvenirs that are one of a kind. Hong Kong Willie Key West artist invites you, no admission charge. Tampa tourist attraction Hong Kong Willie, a little road attraction started as a Worm Farm in 1965. Artists at Hong Kong Willie saw a bright future for the arts. So for a different thing to do in Tampa; check out Hong Kong Willie a roadside Tampa tourist attraction.

Hong Kong Willie KEY WEST ARTIST
For more information call 1-813 770-4794. For more information please see: