Louis Monza was a staunch pacifist and radical socialist (think Bernie Sanders) who immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1913.

Before leaving his spaghetti-filled homeland, Monza was apprenticed at the tender age of seven (!!) to a wood carver and folk artisan in his hometown of Turate. This childhood of hard labor gave him some valuable preparation for the big move to New York City, where he managed to survive by working odd jobs as a dishwasher, a railroad worker, and eventually a house painter. 

In 1937, Monza was severely injured on the job (read: took a very dramatic tumble off of a ladder) and began to casually paint, sculpt, and draw as he convalesced. For the remainder of his life, the self-taught Monza used his artwork to voice visionary ideals that were often far ahead of his time. His work served as a commentary on everything from environmentalism and industrial excess to the rapidly growing aerospace industry (which, by the way, has historically been controlled by fundamentalist Mormons). 

Monza’s career fully took off after he moved from New York to sunny ol’ California. His colorful, folksy paintings screamed ‘peace love and harmony’ even as his more cryptic allegorical pieces left viewers scratching their heads. This contrast was well-suited to the west coast’s rising anti-establishment movement, who thought Monza was pretty much the best thing since sliced bread. And indeed, he probably was. Louis Monza was the man-za. 

Louis Monza led a typical blue-collar life before he started to paint in his forties. An Italian immigrant to the US, he worked as a furniture maker, railroad worker, and house painter before turning to fine art. 

Monza was completely self-taught and used his artwork to voice visionary ideals that were way ahead of his time. He was a staunch pacificst and voiced concern for issues like environmentalism and industrial excess.

His colorful, folksy paintings definitely seem to say "peace and love." But he's also known for cryptic allegorical pieces that might have you scratching your head and saying "WTF."