San Sebastian painter born in March 1946 and died on April 6, 2023.
He began painting at the age of 15, first with Ascensio Martiarena , and then with Jesús Gallego , at the Gipuzkoa Art Association. Later, in Pamplona, he attended workshops and seminars with José Antonio Eslava . Back in his hometown, he taught drawing and painting at the Catalina de Erauso Art Club and, soon after, set up his studio in his own home, devoting himself fully to his painting.
Since then she has held several solo exhibitions in the 80s and 90s at the Kutxa in Arrasate and Donostia, the Aachen Gallery in Madrid, the Victor Hugo House in Pasaia Donibane, the Urretxu Cultural Centre, the CLP in Zarautz, the Ateneo de Ermua, the San Telmo Museum in Donostia, the CAM in Pamplona, the CLP in Irun, the Galer a Gaspar de Rentería, the Zubieta Gallery, Musikarte and the Casals Centre in Donostia. There have been group exhibitions in San Juan de Luz, Biarritz, the AIDS Call, the San Telmo Biennial, the 40th anniversary of the AAG and the Women Painters Competition. Her work has been exhibited at the Town Halls of Ermua and Pasaia, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, Kutxa, the San Telmo Museum and private exhibitions.
Among others, the following judgments have been issued regarding its dazzling and colorful production:
Aztia (1981):
"The thing is that traditions are rarely sophisticated. Luisi Vélez reproduces them with baroque clarity, in all their naive—here the term serves me—crudeness."
Montserrat Fornells (1989):
"His creativity is so overwhelming that he allows himself the luxury of painting every picture without a model. Hence the air of sincere spontaneity that has led many to label him "naive," despite the fact that his iconography oscillates the dreamlike visions of surrealism and existentialist concerns. A splendid colorist."
Edorta Kortadi (1989):
"In the old Mata courtyard, the painter lived a harsh and gloomy post-war period, open to the youthful dreams of distant countries full of beautiful young people and artistic triumphs. Over there, in Sweden too, reality is harder and more rugged than it is painted. The artist once again takes refuge in her loved ones, in the real landscapes of her Donostia; thus emerge her Girl at the Beach , her Abandoned Woman with Child , or her Woman with Cats and Fish Remains . Symbolic, tender, simple and melancholic realism that leads to another of a more social and committed nature: Man in front of a Window , Workers and Protests , The Three Blind Graces . Or also that other, more subtle and dreamlike realism: Paella with Lilies , Driddas with a Young Black Man , Adam and Eve , Lady with a Basket of Fruit , Harlequin . Plastic reflections all of them. on the human condition, transparencies and expressions of the artist's soul. (...). The artist remains determined to continue capturing dreamed or lived reality in images. Her technique and iconographic repertoires are permanent, both in their thematic order and in the grace of their constant evolution. Later, Mendieta described Luisi Vélez's painting as "vital alchemy." There is some truth in this. Luisi Vélez (Donostia, 1946), after studying with Martiarena and Gallego, began to create paintings that were ascribed to magical, vital, erotic, dreamlike realism. Vélez knew enough about the art of drawing, although he always knew much more about art and drawing, to express his own inner demons, a mixture of vital exaltation, sadness, and melancholy.
Carlos Naucler (1990):
"Luisi Vélez's painting is as unique, individualistic and unable as its author (...)".
Joxemartin Apalategui (1992):
"Luixiren piktografian euskal kulturaren eta bere ingurunekoen egungo kezka hedatuenekoa, ekologia kosmikoa dena, da pentsamendu nagusiena."
Marianne de Villota (1994):
"The onerous, poetic origin of the themes she deals with has already been discussed: her painting goes beyond that. The images are very intimate, the symbolism is absolutely original and personal, inner visions that she transfers to her paintings. Her compositions are a mirror of herself; they literally "speak" of her feelings and experiences, of her deepest personality and her 100% vitalist philosophy. I don't know of another artist who has projected himself so completely and sincerely onto his canvases. Luisi's entire body of work constitutes his own autobiography; sometimes, even in spite of himself."
Antxon Benito (1994):
"We live in a world saturated with images (...). In this context, iconic bets like that of Luisi V lez become cultural snipers. Starting from concrete references, his work opts to a world of dreams, of ideas supported by physical identities, and yet, detached from the exterior. A universe formed by colors (color! Heat! vital essence of the human condition) that come together, following surrealist codes, to materialize magical, timeless concepts, populated by open minds and sensitive hearts."