Life and Island Times – 23 May 2016

All state and local public buildings, schools and courthouses on these coral islands are all named after locals. There is no Roosevelt High or Washington Elementary. US Presidents might get a street (or several blocks if he was a Republican) named after them, but that is it.

This memorialization of islanders extends from the most obscure gravestone to local events.

One such occasion was a mid-May parade down Duval Street. It was named after a long ago deceased junkman who lived in Key Largo.

Folk artist Stanley Papio saw beauty in junk. He was a colorful character who welded various car parts and discarded metal into “art.” With no formal training, Papio transformed car roofs into turtles and fenders into alligators. A water heater, pipes and wire became a sculpture of George Washington. A gas tank, oil pump, two rusty drive shafts and a set of crusty valve covers transformed into the jovial W.C. Fields. Some of his best works were rich in social commentary.

Papio was born in Canada, but spent most of his early life in Illinois. He was a welder in the U.S. Army during World War II, and then worked odd jobs across the United States before he settled in Key Largo in 1949. Although he came to Florida as a horse groom, his favorite job was welding, so he purchased a tiny lot on U.S. Route 1 at Mile Marker 101 on US 1 and went into business as a welder. Papio encouraged people to leave old cars, washing machines and dishwashers in his yard. In those early years, no one cared that he filled his front yard with junk.

The Upper Keys had not yet been discovered by tourists, and Papio’s nearest neighbor lived 15 miles away. Soon, however, encroaching developers, condominiums, neighbors and local zoning laws opposed his collection of junk. Neighbors complained about the eyesore, claiming his yard display was against the law. No one cared that Papio had been there first.

The town hounded him to remove the junk and bring his property up to code. He refused to comply, instead he created sculptures welded together from his treasured junk and displayed them in his front yard. The mess of keeping these large pieces in his yard infuriated his neighbors – they often had him arrested for zoning violations. Papio fought back. His world became one of satire and junk sculpture, some comical and many of pure venom aimed at his neighbors and local government bodies.

He gave his sculptures caustic names such as The Two-Faced Woman and Greedy Grit the Contractor. He also renamed his welding shop Stanley’s Art Museum, and charged 25¢ admission. By the time of his death 1982, private collectors, museum experts and art critics were flooding his yard. Three of his creations, W.C. Fields, The Monk and The Alligator toured Europe in 1981 as part of the U.S. State Department’s travelling America Now exhibition.

So in a fit of whimsy, islanders named and held a Kinetic Art Sculpture Parade in Stanley’s honor.

Unless Stanley created Calder-esque stationary works, these sculptures were human-powered art. Most were usually made junk or recycled materials.

Barefoot Stanley Papio
So in memory of Stanley here is a selection of photos from the First Annual Papio Kinetic Sculpture Parade.

PS: Parade organizers expected about a dozen participating entries. They were shocked by the three dozen entrants.

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