Florida interstate art . Updated 5/20/2025

Florida interstate art.
We are located at   12212 morrisbridge road ,Tampa Florida 33637   


Reuse artist.
Hong Kong Willie.Florida Interstate Art.. Artist of the 60’s in the now. Acclaimed Famous Florida folk artist, Living the Life of using objects for many uses. Follow the travels of life.  

Who Is Hongkongwillie

 

During my 4 years of attending USF I've gotten to venture around a decent amount of local spots in the surrounding Tampa Bay area. These ranged from restaurants, cafes, parks, bars, and other places of interest. Recently I got to check out this particular spot that has always been on mind. If you're frequently in the Temple Terrace area then there's a pretty big chance you probably been down East Fletcher Avenue before. If that's the case, then you definitely have seen this spot I'm talking about. Go east onto Fletcher Avenue and as soon as you're about to hit Highway I-75, look to your right and you'll see an establishment with some very interesting art installments around its vicinity. Just by looking at the photo above, you can see why its hard to miss. Once again, I had my good friend, Nick, tag along with me to check out what this place was all about.

 

 

Hong Kong Willie

When we pulled up onto the property, there were no other cars there besides mine. It made me wonder if there was even anyone around . The first thing you'll immediately notice is that the majority of the property was covered in ocean like paraphernalia such as vibrantly colored buoys to coconuts. It makes you feel like you're walking around a dock for boats. 

We proceeded to walk towards what appeared to be the main building since it had "open" signs posted around it. The signs led us to a door on the right side that had a wooden sign with the words, "WE ARE OPEN CALL 813-770-4794". I called the number and before anyone could answer, a man comes out of nowhere right behind us and asks, "You want to view the gallery?". He then unlocked the door for us and behind it was a room completely filled with artwork made by him. These ranged from paintings, wood carvings, more buoys, and so much more. It was pretty overwhelming. As we kept looking around, the man introduced himself as Joe Brown, aka "Hong Kong Willie"

 

From Hong Kong to Willie

Born and raised in Tampa, Joe's passion for art started when he attended an art class at the age of 8. Through it he learned the importance of volunteerism, reusing, recycling, and giving back to the community. With deep admiration for his teacher's past work in Hiroshima, the "Hong Kong" part of his name came from the fact that his teacher was from there. Later on "Willie" was added to form the catchphrase "Hong Kong Willie". As time progressed, the young artist unfortunately decided to leave his interests in art behind with the thought that it wasn't going to be able to support him in the future. . Now this the part of the story where things for Joe start to get REALLY interesting. Right after graduating college, Joe became involved with a project that helped bring UPC codes to the grocery stores. (UPC codes are those bar codes you see on products). Sounds crazy right? Who would of known that some random artist in Tampa played a big role in something like that? However, he wasn't content with what he was doing with his life; this led him to move back to Tampa where he spent 5 years living in a beat down trailer in a forest across the street from where we were standing. He recalled the trailer days when he would always piss off the locals by blasting loud music at night and dealing with 20 something cops showing up; surprisingly, he never got kicked out. Soon it was finally time for the man to make his comeback as an artist.

 

 So how successful has the artist been since? Well, the highest value he's ever sold one of his pieces for was $200,000... Holy crap... If you're able to sell one of your pieces for that much then you're definitely doing something right. Many of his clients have ranged from businesses wanting to place something in their stores to individuals who just want unique artwork in their home. But putting aside the art talk, the artist gave us personal wisdom about his outlook on life.

 

 Hongkongwillie Art
MYSTERIOSITY   $176,000 U.S. Dollars

 

 

Willie Wisdom

Joe believes that one of the biggest issues we currently face is people being too absorbed by the lifestyle of riches, straying them from being themselves. It's no surprise that when you live in a society that glamorizes wealth that you become tempted to throw aside your genuine interests to find ways to get rich instead. I've personally had friends who've stopped pursuing their passions because it seemed to them a waste of time since it didn't hold any potential to make them money. A majority of these passions were related to art, music, and dance. It's sad to think about but as a photographer myself I understand where they're coming from. Luckily there are still people out there like Joe who still follow their passions with zero care about wealth. I've always believed that if you truly loved doing something then you'll find a way to pursue it regardless where life takes you. If you find that too hard to do, then you never loved it in the first place. Joe also weighed in on the issues of race that have been recently prevalent in media by describing his personal experiences with it. He acknowledges that as an individual who physically appears to be white, that it gives him a bigger social advantage as compared to "minority" races. As a man of Spanish, White, and Jewish descent, he's had a mild taste of these social tensions when he once lived in a community of English people. 

 

 

What started off as a normal visit to Hong Kong Willie, became one of the most enlightening experiences that I've ever had. Just the amount of resilience that this man had maintained throughout his life was impressive. His early struggles really embody the cliché phrase, "When there's a will, there's a way". He owes a lot of his success to the support of the community, God, and other artists. Those humbling words left such a big impact on me. 

If you're ever in the area then I highly recommend that you visit Hong Kong Willie. This definitely beats a visit to a regular art museum for sure. Below I've provided more info on how you can learn more about him. You just never know what story a place might hold for you till you go check it out.  

 

 

 

“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.

“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.

 

 

 

 

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Tampa Art Galleries Videos . Updated 10 / 27 / 2024

Hongkongwillie Videos

Reuse artist.
Hong Kong Willie.Tampa Art Galleries. Artist of the 60’s in the now. Acclaimed Famous Florida folk artist, Living the Life of using objects for many uses. Follow the travels of life.

MY FOX TAMPA BAY

Tampa Art Galleries

Tampa Art Galleries VideosArtist 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.
  Reuse Became the way of life. 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 

It,(was the dump) that had all this media, and a young enterprising mind. Not enough time to capture it all.

 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..

Tampa Artist Gallery

Tampa Art Galleries Videos

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.

Tampa Art Gallery

University of South Florida

Florida Focus

Google Car

Google

Will Rearrange the World.

FAMOUS

Tampa

Art Galleries

Google Truck

Helicopter lands on weird

"GOOGLE TRUCK"

Tampa Art Galleries

Tampa Art Gallery

MY FOX TAMPA BAY

Charlie's World Fox News

Hong Kong Willie

Preservation Art Group

Florida recycling artist . Updated 10 / 27 / 2024

 

Art Hong Kong Willie's way

 Published in TB2
BY SOHINI LAHIRI
Growing up in Tampa, I spent a period of time fascinated by a quirky, eye-catching landmark at Fletcher Avenue and Interstate 75. This was also the period of time I spent obsessed with making binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and necklaces out of pop tops. To me, this sight was the epitome of similar creative craziness, and I often found myself looking for it during car journeys, hoping it hadn’t disappeared overnight.
But time passes and so does the urge for pop-top necklaces, and observant eyes don’t notice the same sights. It wasn’t until recently that I once again took note of the scene, with its broken down orange helicopter, a tree made of what seems to be indestructible balloons and a blue-and-white house covered with trash remade into art.
It’s the home of Hong Kong Willie, artist of reuse.
I finally paid a visit to this art gallery after many years of wondering about the story behind it. The pavement leading to the door is painted with handprints and splatters, the store edged with upside down Coke bottles. Streams of lobster buoys hang from the roof and also make up the “tree” I marveled at so often from my car window.
Various shoes, bottles, clocks and signs are glued to the side of the store, and there’s a tribute to Sept. 11 off to the side. No one seemed to be home, so I called the number on the “WE’RE OPEN” sign, which brought a middle-aged man in a bright Hawaiian shirt from behind the store.
After a few basic questions, Joe Brown begins to open up about the history surrounding his art.
Brown, better known as Hong Kong Willie, says he was an artist from the start. “Everyone is born an artist,” he said. “However some are granted the gift of being able to express that art.”
As a young boy, his mother decided to send him to art school, which he says changed the course of his life forever.
At the age of 8, Brown recalls being heavily influenced by the lessons, which included transforming a Gerber baby bottle, something with no real value, into a piece of art. His teacher had spent an enormous amount of time and effort in Hiroshima, Japan, helping those affected by the atomic bombs. Brown learned many lessons about recycling from this teacher, who had come from Hong Kong. Brown added an American name, Willie, to Hong Kong for his nickname Hong Kong Willie.
While Brown grew up to be an artist, he left the world of mainstream art to return to his background in technology.
“But on Nov. 13th, 1981 … on a Friday at 1:30 in the afternoon, I had an epiphany,” Brown says. “I was at a friend’s house right across the street,” pausing to point at a row of apartments across from his store, “and a series of events led me to rejoin the art world.”
With the help of two other artists, Brown set up his business in the Florida Keys in the early 1980s, then moved it to Tampa. Together, they believed that they were predestined for the Green Movement, and have been making art out of recyclables for close to 30 years.
How’s business? He smiles. “It’s pretty wild.”
Inside, Hong Kong Willie’s art includes glossy pieces of driftwood restored and painted with beautiful landscapes and kernels of truth, some of the gorgeous work priced in the six figures. But there’s also a wide collection of handmade bags, wooden sculptures and sassy bracelets for more moderate prices.
A portion of the proceeds go to benefit the Green Movement, Brown says.
With a laid-back swagger, Brown continues. “We live pretty minimally. And all the funds we get from donations and our art sales are delegated to green projects.”
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I decided to visit Hong Kong Willie. Certainly not the breathtaking art inside, and definitely not the history behind it. I’m feeling thick-headed for not visiting years ago, and say so.
Brown offers a last bit of insight:
“I’m a big believer in predestination and timing. If someone is not ready to view art, the door is closed. Every piece of art that is made, and every project we do is done for a reason. It doesn’t matter if that reason shows up the next day, or walks in six years later; every piece of art will find a home.”

FUNDING FOR THIS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE
S.L. GIMBEL FOUNDATION.
IN THIS EDITION OF "WEDU ARTS PLUS,Hongkongwillie

ART FOR SALE MYSTERIOSITY 
Florida Recycling Artist., HONG KONG WILLIE

 



$176,000 U.S. Dollars
  Hong Kong Willie Gallery

Florida Recycling Artist,raised on Tampa city dump,like living in the Penthouse in the upper east side.

Blue Marlin Dream of Key West.

$225,000  Hong Kong Willie Art

Gunn Highway Landfill

The Gunn Highway Landfill is located

off Gunn Highway in Tampa, Hillsborough

County, Florida. The county operated the landfill

 as a trench-type facility for the disposal

of MSW from 1958 to 1962.

Hongkongwillie born for reuse .