Remembering the Man And the Artist: Joey Velasco

July 20, 2010

This was an article I wrote last August 17, 2007, right after we visited Kuya Joey Velasco in his home. I am re-posting this as a tribute to the Man and the Artist who touched lives through his life.

I have always been an artist at heart. I never pursued this however because I was scared that if I placed standards on something that keeps my soul alive, art will cease to be free. I am contented and at peace with my relationship with art. It was, and continues to be, my sanctuary. It is where my heart beats fast and I feel myself step out of myself. Every piece of art that was made with passion and prayer (in no particular form or order) is an encounter with God.

I thought I have already forgotten about art and the sanctuary it gives me.

When I talked to Kuya Joey Velasco, I re-discovered what I already knew. I realized that I could never forget who I really am and how I see my God through the hunger and yearning He placed in me. Kuya Joey told me that painting was not his skill. It was something he did not consider before. But if one looks at his paintings, one could see a true artist, a witness of life, a visionary that makes the rest of the world see.

His paintings communicate with each soul and makes one scandalized and at peace at the same time. Scandalized because of the touch of Divinity in what we consider the most inhuman in humanity. Then the paintings make us realize why Jesus came to the world in the first place. There was nothing so patronizing or far-out in his paintings. They just communicated the simple yet difficult truths that the Bible has been communicating to us for centuries. These art pieces are indeed scandalizing because they show us who we are called to be. At the same time however, the paintings would keep one at peace. There would always be a sense of peace when one sees what life is really all about.

Reese’s Pieces