Aldo Luongo

   I remember the first time I ever saw Aldo Luongos’ artwork. I was on my honeymoon in Hawaii. We turned the corner on a very busy Waikiki street and right in front of me, prominently displayed in a gallery window, was a framed limited edition by Aldo Luongo. I think it was called Red Bench. It had this older man, with white hair and a bushy mustache, and a white cap on his head, sitting on a red park bench. I would later learn that this person on the bench was called the Hawk, and in many ways, serves as representative of Aldo Luongos’ own passion for life. Because that’s what Aldo Luongos art contains. At the heart of every piece by Luongo is passion.

   Some of his works are beautiful, and beauty is the key to works like Blue Coast, and Homage to Monet, but even then I believe it’s Aldo Luongos’ passion for beauty and life that drives his contemporary impressionistic paintings. You can see that passion in pieces like Cafe Tortoni, where the character of the Hawk is engaged in the passion for the cafe scene in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aldos’ home country. It can be seen again in the passion for the future that is portrayed in Destiny, with the Hawk sitting with a young boy, peering out and envisioning their own destinies.

I remember thinking, on that warm Hawaiian day, that if I could paint, I would paint like Aldo Luongo. I couldn’t afford his work at the time. My wife and I were just married and starting out, so buying one of his paintings, or limited editions, was way out of our league. So I put that goal in the “Someday” file.

   A few years later, after I had already started performing in plays and musicals in the Los Angeles area, as well performing as a singer in clubs on Sunset Blvd. I joined a country quartet called the Indian River Boys. They had come to Los Angeles to further the groups opportunities, but in the process had lost their lead singer. We met, I sang with them. We agreed to move forward. But like most entertainers, actors, and actresses in Los Angeles, we needed day jobs in order to subsidize our performing careers. One of those jobs was working in a phone room selling artwork to people who would call off advertising postcards promoting Salvador Dali, Miro, and other great artists. But mostly Dali. I did alright there, but things really picked up when I overheard one of the other salesman speaking with their client about finding an Aldo Luongo work of art for him. In order to fill the request someone needed to pick the piece at Aldos’ publisher, who just happened to be about three miles away from where I was working. So I picked up the phone, called information for the phone and address, and actually walked into Aldo Luongos’ publishers’ office, Robert Bane publishing, the very next day.

   When I got to the publishers’ office I asked if I could speak with the sales manager about going to work for them. I was asked to wait. And I waited. And waited. But I wasn’t going to leave. I wanted to work selling Aldo Luongos’ artwork. After awhile a vice president of the company came out to meet me, and asked me to come back to meet the publisher, Robert Bane. Robert Bane asked me to take a seat, was very polite, but also a bit guarded. How did I find out about his company? Who sent me? Why am I asking about going to work for his company, selling for him, when he posted no ad for salespeople ? I explained who I currently worked for. He knew him, and the company. I told him I overheard the conversation about Aldo Luongo, and was surprised when I found out that he was published in Los Angeles.  I had always thought that he might be published in Argentina, New York, or in Europe. I asked him to let me get on the phones for him, and if I couldn’t sell anything in a week, let me go. He seemed to like that, and told me it was commission only, which I was good with.

   I sold two limited edition serigraphs by Aldo Luongo to a new gallery the very first day on the job, Three weeks later I was in New York City, at the New York City Art expo, representing Aldo Luongo, and getting to know him, and his work, first hand.

If you are interested in any of the limited edition artwork shown in this article about ALdo Luongo please feel free to make an offer, or ask a question.