Hugo Longa: The Uruguayan teacher and artist

Hugo Longa: The Uruguayan teacher and artist who left a national mark
Amid collages, wild brushstrokes, and a boundless imagination.

Hugo Longa: He was a painter, draftsman, collage maker, improvised sculptor, and above all, a creator of impossible worlds. Born in 1934 in Uruguay, Guaviyú de Arapey (Salto), his work reflects a blend of the fantastic and the grotesque, as if his inner universe resisted the logic of order.

Longa, long before Uruguayan contemporary art embraced multidisciplinary approaches, was already practicing them with wild freedom. Between the 1960s and 1980s, his artistic output was distinguished by a vibrant palette, chaotic visual narrative, and a profound sense of humor. In fact, his pieces seemed to tell us stories that never ended, where the characters were hybrid and delirious figures.

Longa's work does not seek to please, but to disturb, shock, and question. You could say he was a pioneer of Pop Art and an informal heir to Surrealism. But neither he nor his paintings fit neatly into a single label. He played with the absurd, with materials, with composition. Each of his collages seemed like an emotional puzzle assembled from the remains of dreams, paper, cardboard, and color.

In the 1980s, he shifted toward an even more powerful Neo-Expressionism, where forms were completely liberated. Thick, almost furious brushstrokes began to take control of his canvases. It was during this period that his art became more introspective, although it never lost its irony or playful wink.

It was also at this time that his role as a teacher gained prominence. He founded his own studio in Montevideo and there instilled artistic interest in an entire generation. His students include notable names such as Margaret Whyte, Fernando López Lage, María Clara Rossi, and Gustavo Tabares, who have recognized Longa's indelible influence not only in his technique but also in the creative freedom he conveyed.

In 1979, he participated in the São Paulo Biennial, one of the largest international venues for Latin American art. Years later, in 1987, he received the Fraternity Award from B'nai B'rith Uruguay, a recognition of his career that, however, did not mitigate his status as a "cult" artist, little understood by traditional art circles.

He died in Montevideo on August 30, 1990. He was just 56 years old. His passing was as silent as his work was resounding. There were no major tributes at the time, but his legacy began to grow, almost like an underground fire. Today, several of his works are part of the collection of the National Museum of Visual Arts, and his stature is revalued with each new group exhibition that includes him.

Hugo Longa was a visual narrator of the absurd and the beautiful, an artist who transformed chaos into art and art into provocation. He was also a generous teacher, who left a living legacy for many contemporary Uruguayan artists. Rediscovering Longa today is like encountering a work that never ages. Even today, he moves us in each of his pieces, as if speaking in our ear, from that imaginary world that only he knew how to see.