The Key West Art & Historical Society celebrates the acclaimed late Key West artist Captain Outrageous in “That’s Outrageous!,” a retrospective featuring more than 40 works that explore his pop art style across several different mediums.  The exhibit opens Friday, April 13, with a special reception held from 6:00pm-7:30pm in the Bryan Gallery at the Custom House Museum, 281 Front Street.  The Green Parrot Bar kicks off the exhibit’s opening at 4:30pm with “The Last Straw” Happy Hour, celebrating what would have been Captain’s 78th birthday and named as an homage to his infamous White Street eatery. Attendees are encouraged to make their way from The Green Parrot to the 6:00pm Custom House exhibit reception.

“That’s Outrageous!” is the first major exhibition to examine the artwork of one of Key West’s most famous artists. The former financial analyst came to Key West in the 1970s as Norman Taylor, reinventing himself as an artist whose life and work “tell the quintessential Key West story through his creations,” says Curator Cori Convertito, Ph.D.  During his four decades on the island, he imprinted his indelible mark with both his colorful artwork and personality.

“The museum is delighted to stage this exhibition, remembering one of our island’s great personalities,” says Convertito. “Captain Outrageous is truly a textbook example of a Key West character, and he was able to create some of our most incredible art.”

He made the world his canvas and painted thousands of items – bicycles, scooters, furniture, clothing, mannequins, cars, camper vans, sinks, musical instruments, telephones, and even toilet seats – with a pop art design style à la Roy Lichtenstein, but with a flair and humor decidedly his own.

“This exhibition is as much about the artist as it is about the art,” says Convertito.  “Captain was a force – creative, cantankerous, clever, and capricious.  The artwork is most certainly the personification of the man.”

“That’s Outrageous!” runs through Sunday, June 24 and is sponsored in part by the Captain Outrageous Foundation. For more information, call Curator Cori Convertito, Ph.D., at 305.295.6616 x 112 or visit kwahs.org/exhibitions.  (Photo Courtesy Rob O’Neal) Your Museums.  Your Community.  It Takes an Island.