Joe LaRocco

The LaRocco family hails from the town of Palermo, Italy. My dad’s family immigrated by boat to The United States in 1916, and landed on the shores of Florida.

They immediately made their way north to the state of Ohio, and a few months later, in December, Joe LaRocco was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1916.

Joe LaRocco was drafted into the navy and served as a photographer during WW11. After serving in the military he worked as a commercial artist in California, Florida, Texas and Hawaii.

Joseph has worked with watercolors from the early 1950’s to when he passed at 96 years old on April 1st 2012.

Joe loved painting old Hawaiian homes, iconic landmark buildings, historic Hawaiian sites and Hawaiian ocean Scenes on the Big Island of Hawaii, also known as “Moku o Keawe”

Joe’s son, David LaRocco, brought his parents to Hawaii in 1979. Being very inspired, Joe and his wife Gladys drove around the island of Hawaii, preserving the history of Hawaii thru his vivid watercolor paintings. Joe captured a variety of scenes in a moment of time. Now, some of those spots are gone forever due to destruction from the lava flows of Kalapana in 1990.

The “Kalapana House” painting won 1st place at The Art Guide of Hawaii at The Mauna Lani Hotel in Kona, with over 300 island artists entered. Governor John D. Waihee III asked to have The “Kalapana House” painting hung for showing at The Governor’s Mansion on Ohau.

Another painting Joe painted is “The Star Of The Sea Church” in Kalapana, Hawaii. The church sat next to an ancient historic Hawaiian canoe landing in Kalapana, Hawaii. This is the only painting, painted by anyone on the planet, of this scene, before it and the surrounding land was taken down, and the lost Hawaiian village of Kalapana was totally covered in lava by May of 1990.

The “Keaau Town” painting is important because soon after Joe did the painting the whole strip of old Hawaii buildings was torn down and rebuilt with a gas station and a convenience store.

The “Kamakahonu” painting with the Hawaiian canoes, was the home of King Kamehameha, in Kailua Kona Hawaii..

David LaRocco is proud to bring these beautiful painting of Hawaii to the world – enjoy!

Aloha,

David LaRocco