It looked genuine to me, but Captain Outrageous has been dead for years. how quickly time passes and here is a bicycle at least in his style if not by his hand in use apparently as a daily rider. How lovely.
As it was signed Lady Outrageous it appears to be one painted by his surviving consort and it looks good. It was a treat to see.
I have been trying to photograph the essential Duval Street for years and I can't seem to get it right. I look back at my archive of pictures, hundreds, perhaps thousands by now and none of therm capture Duval. It is named for the first Territorial Governor of what was to become Florida, an obscure enough character, God knows but here he is enshrined.
Some days Duval annoys me with its shoddy store fronts, crappy t-shirt shops and chain store blandness. Other days I like wandering among the crowd, popping pictures like a visitor, staring at the street as though I'd never seen it before. Does it live up to its reputation as the center of all that is fascinating about Key West?
Some people make it a point to avoid Duval Street as though it were leprous but it's just one aspect of this complicated little town.
The credit union had this fantastic car loan poster on the wall on Southard Street... and I wondered if they really would make a car loan on a California-style low rider? If anyone might it would be the credit union.
Tonics...Remedies...Elixirs...Tinctures
the Place Where Time Stood Still.
Extraordinary.
Quintessential Key West: worker meets bum. Bum wins. Sigh.
Posted with Blogsy
A while ago someone asked me to do an essay on Captain Outrageous and I wasn't really sure I could pull it off. I was encouraged by the arrival at the Conch Republic Bed races, of a Captain Outrageous Cushman which I photographed as much as I could before it pulled away heading back to it's home base at the Fairvilla store:
I'm a bit vague on the details as I only ever met Captain Outrageous in passing but I believe he was a financial wizard Up North and he decided to do the old fashioned thing and drop out and tune in to his inner muse which produced some particular artwork:
The larger than life colors and the comic book like characters are pure captain Outrageous, and once seen never confused with someone else's work. He liked to paint vehicles but he would transform any utilitarian article into something worth looking at.
A van he painted was driven by a man who lived in my marina a few years back and it was a novel on wheels, but even something as small as a bicycle could get the Captain's attention:
Even though I am no collector I regret now that I didn't get myself something painted by the artist. He died a a year or so ago, shortly after he opened in his own gallery downtown. So now the only way to get a piece of Captain Outrageous's art is to buy it.
Or, if you are lucky you may stumble across a piece of it parked around town. Some owners are I expect, hoarding his irreplaceable work, but you'd be amazed how much of his rolling art is...rolling around town and in daily use.
His website is still up and functioning, so it might be best for those that are interested to zip on over and see the late great Captain Outrageous in his own, posthumous words: