I have known Jorge Lacoste for almost forty years and consider him one of my dearest friends. We have shared not only the ups and downs of our lives, which all friends do, but our search for Truth and the deeper, even deepest, meaning of life. There have been periods of time when we were not in close contact, but always something brings us back together. After one such period we got back into touch about two years ago and I first learned that he had become an artist. I purposely don’t say that he had “taken up painting” or something like that, because even in his early works one could see the talent and unique style that has blossomed, and is still blossoming, into a very special gift.
Knowing the immense challenges Jorge has faced with his debilitating Parkinson’s condition, and that he had never shown any indication of any talent in art before, I was surprised, even awed. His courage and character in dealing with Parkinsons, which had gotten progressively more severe over the years until he could no longer drive or even walk without a cane, was inspirational to me. He never complained or bemoaned his fate. His disposition remained bright and cheerful and even humorous. That alone is noteworthy and rare. Combined with this wonderful talent and gift, and it is truly a gift since he had no previous experience or training, he has become a prolific painter, producing works of great depth and diversity and beauty. His style is unique, you’ll find nothing like it, and his use of colors are stunning, forsaking an exact reproduction of the chosen scene or subject, he shows whatever he is painting as it would look to an innocent or a sage, something alive and radiant and, for wont of a more eloquent adjective, pristinely beautiful.
Jorge’s paintings are priceless in that beauty and I am honored to now have two of them in my home, where they continue to evoke in my a sense of a far away and long lost vision of another, gentler, world that is somehow still this world.
Jay Kier
September 13th, 2009
Santa Barbara California
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