Artist Born for this Time. Exploring the Recycled World of Art . Updated 5/16/2023

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.”

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.

Visit Hong Kong Willie’s blog here: https://thingstodointampa.blogspot.com/2010/12/things-to-do-in-tampa.html

Famous Florida Artist .Updated 1/1/2022

Have you ever seen the building on the corner of Fletcher and 75 exit 266 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, a Famous Florida Artist
 Artists are to give back, talent is to tell a story, to make change. Reuse is a life experience  .

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 Items remade into art.
It’s the home of Hong Kong Willie, Famous Florida Artist .
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.”
 
Famous Florida Artist, BELIEVING IN PRESERVATION ART. THE WORLD RECORD BUOY TREE, MADE FROM KEY WEST LOBSTER BUOYS, SHOW THEIR COMMITMENT TO PRESERVATION. LOCATED ON I-75 EXIT 266 IN TAMPA.

 Located off East Fletcher Road between hotel chains and high-end office parks is the gift shop and folk art gallery Hong Kong Willie's.Drive south on I-75, look to the right around East Fletcher Avenue, and you can't miss it. The tree appears first, hundreds of buoys wrapped around its branches, resembling a sort of Dr. Seuss-ian Christmas ornament. Then the rest of the 20,000 buoys come into view -- thousands of strands of the multicolored foam balls stretching from the tree to two wooden shacks, hanging from their roofs and walls, and stretched out over the property.

John 3:16 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.