ANTONIO LORO

Antonio Loro was an internationally known artist, teacher, conservator and restorer of fine art.  He was born on the dawn of WWII, witnessing the horrors of war as a boy and surviving with a mixture of courage and luck.  In these dark early times, he was drawn to art, sketching and painting his way towards the light.  He was one of the youngest students ever accepted to the prestigious Brera Academy of Art in Milan.

His family relocated to Buenos Aires in 1949, where he excelled as a student and artist, winning silver and gold medals at the National Salon of Arts in 1958 and 1959, along with the Grand Prize at the Buenos Aires Biennale for graphics.  International exhibitions of his work followed in Italy, Paraguay and the U.S.  

He was invited to be a visiting professor of art at the University of Arizona, where he met his first wife, Susan Albee.  The couple moved to New York City, and shortly after, to a farmhouse in Puerto Rico, where they began a family.

He was the founder and first director of the Aguadilla Museum of Art and the Caribbean Fine Arts School, where he assembled an army of students to complete mural projects at the University of Puerto Rico, Borinquen International Airport, and the Aguadilla Coliseum.

His next chapter begins in 1982, where the Papadakis family helps him grow roots in The Woodlands, Texas.  He meets artist Gretchen Van Atta, and together, they start St. Mark Fine Arts Restoration and become an institution in Houston's art scene.  Since the late 90's, he was represented by Nolan-Rankin Galleries and had many successful exhibitions under their care.  After many years of successful business in the museum district, St. Mark Fine Art was sold and Antonio bought two new knees and two new eyes, along with a home in Spring, TX.  He established Loro Fine Art and focused his energy on painting and ecclesiastical restoration.  In his 70's, he climbed scaffolding to complete an original mural inside the Assumption Catholic Church.  His restoration of St. Mary's Catholic church in Praha, TX was perhaps his crown achievement in ecclesiastical work, with visitors coming on tours of the areas' 'painted churches.' 

In the end, his greatest wish was to have to time to paint and create, and I think this desire to create is the fountain of youth everyone seeks.

In an artist's statement he once wrote, "I do not write about myself, I paint about myself... to paint Veneto is to preserve the history in the memory of my people."​

"Art is the heart of all cultures...everything that surrounds us, makes us, and if effect, makes the artwork we create.  It is these actions that emanate from the depths of our soul that will touch others, because it is from the heart that contact truly begins."

"Art forms are born and not created... light relaxes in the lap of darkness"