Luigi

 

Luis Benjamin Pinedo, better known as Luigi Pinedo, was born on Friday, July 23, 1926 on the island of Curaçao, in the innercity of Willemstad called Otrobanda. He was the only son of the marriage between Luis Bernardo Pinedo and Remigia Rosaria (Mai Chaya) de Lannoy. After spending a couple of years in Venezuela with his father and graduated as an electrical engineer, he returned to his dushi Curaçao and married his beloved Aura A. Tweeboom in 1951. They had two daughters Muriel (1952) and Karin (1954).

He obtained his Certificate of Instrument Making from Shell Curaçao’s technical school and earned his living as a certified instrument maker and a later stage, with his electrical engineering background, responsible for the installation and maintenance of elevators and lifts in Curaçao and Aruba. Luigi acquired appreciation for Aruban sceneries during his visits to Aruba in connection with his daily job as installer.

Luigi can be considered a forerunner in the local contemporary art scene. He inherited his talent for painting from his family. His father was a goldsmith and his mother a seamstress. Two of his uncles painted in their leisure time and were also musicians. Same as his uncles Luigi also mastered the art of playing mouth organs/harps and accordeons. Luigi had his first lessons in painting from the teachers Da Silva and Bergeyck at St. Thomas College and later at Hendrikschool. Over the years, Luigi Pinedo continued  to develop his talent by means of correspondence courses via LOI (Leidse Onderwijs Instelling), the Famous Artist School of New York and Kachin School of Art, through self study and attending courses in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia. The well known painter Machiel (Giel) Hagedoorn was also instrumental in his development. For years he has been giving courses to children and adults in Curaçao, and during an eight years period also at the Instituto Venezolano para la Cultura y la Cooperacion Curazao. Luigi’s courses, besides painting and coloring techniques, also entailed mastering patience, character building and enhancement of the motoric senses.  At first Luigi Pinedo expressed his artistic inspirations in the form of figurative paintings which in turn reflects his love and admiration for the beauty and splendor of Curaçao, emerging in landscape, nature and the nucleus of inner city of Willemstad. His works of art in this romantic setting has a lot of admirers, especially those paintings of the Flamboyan tree, Tafelberg and Otrobanda alleys are very much loved and sought after. Quite a large number of paintings were made of local themes with the sole purpose of printing postcards, and were patronized by Abram E. Salas and family who had a bookstore.

Luigi began exhibiting his art pieces publicly since 1965. Since the eighties he enlarged his production with abstract art, which takes us into for example the world of cubism. Famous are his Abstract Clowns. His abstract art is surprising, fascinating and intriguing and very well liked. Some of his abstract pieces were influenced by the famous Leonardo Nierman, whom he met during a trip to Mexico. With the years going by, his art has gone through a profound metamorphosis. The leading factor in all his work remained the love for the beauty of Curaçao, which is reflected, in his typical colors. A salient detail is that ninety percent of his work falls under the ‘commissioned’ category while the remaining ten percent equally split between charity and barter, hence running into an art piece in his atelier readily available for walk-in customers was non-existent.

Luigi was condecorated by Her Majesty the Queen of Netherlands on April 8th 1982, and was granted the title of  ‘ORDE VAN ORANJE-NASSAU IN GOUD’ for his artistical contribution to the island, it’s inhabitants and charity work.

Luigi Pinedo passed away on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 in Curaçao in his beloved Otrobanda. One of his cousins that he taught how to play the mouth organ played a very moving farewell song on his mouth organ while closing the casket. His ashes were entrusted to the blue Carribean sea on Saturday, March 31, 2007, at the back drop of the well-known Tafelberg and were welcomed and accompanied by a group of dolphins at sunset with the same red coloring sky that Luigi painted in Hala Canoa. He will also be remembered for his simplicity and humbleness.

Elis Juliana, one of Luigi’s friends and fellow artist, dedicated a poem to Luigi and wrote the following :

Hopi aña pasá,
nos tabata kombersá
i bo a sigurámi
ku promé ku solo baha
lo bo pinta un La Birgui
nigrita di bo pueblo
ku dos flèktu di banana
ku un yuchi krioyo
kargá na su sei.

POEM
Bonochi ruman !
Djamanta no ke tende
ku ta di  karbonstein
el a originá.