1. Fabián Velasco
2. Nereo II
3. Ben Clarkson

“Visual art” is a broad term that shouldn’t be taken strictly. It can describe anything from paintings to ceramics to the applied arts like industrial design and architecture. But for 25-year-old Fabián Velasco, its definition is only limited by a creative and free-thinking imagination.

Velasco is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg’s film department, an assistant editor at Farpoint Films, a musician and a multitalented visualist whose productions have been screened at festivals across North America. Most recently he wrote and directed Under the Neon Lights – featured at the 2013 Toronto After Dark Film Festival.

“I’m more of a visual person,” he says. “I get visuals in my head first and then I make a story out of them and figure out how to put them into a movie. They come up to me and I develop a theme and an idea based on original images. It doesn’t have to be a movie, it can be a piece of art or music or anything.”

While Velasco hopes to pursue a career as a feature film director, he’s always exploring new avenues including graphic arts, painting and 3D computer design. He often stays busy with personal projects.

“I’ve always been doing art and graphic design,” he confirms. “I want to become a film director, but I’m also interested in editing and graphics... I was shooting a movie in the deserts of California this summer and I’m doing a lot of visuals for that. It’s a dystopian sci-fi film with laser guns and time travel and all sorts of other stuff.”

Find Velasco’s films online and look for his name in the credits of upcoming local productions – his talent is very hard to ignore.

Part of the series: The Uniter 30

Published in Volume 68, Number 14 of The Uniter (December 4, 2013)