Modern Day Last Supper:

Hapag ng Pag-asa(Table of Hope)

Thesis sentence: Joey Velasco’s “Hapag ng Pag-asa”(Table of Hope) shows a dramatic scene of twelve children, sharing meal with Jesus which conveys a message to every audience who sees it.

I. Joey Velasco, the painter of Table of Hope, was one of the few Filipino artists who embraced the used of Christian themes on his artworks.

a. Joey Velasco, an artist and a businessman, denied that he was an artist, calling himself a”Heartist” instead.

b. Before he got into painting, he was a devastated and ill man due to a major operation that cost his left kidney.

c. Alone ad confused in the dark, he stopped communicating with his friends and even his family.

d. He prayed for a rope to God so he could pull himself out of the darkness.”But instead of a rope, He dangled a paintbrush and I grabbed it,” Joey Velasco said in an interview on Probes Profile.

e. Hope finally came to him and started making artworks which revolved around Jesus with normal people.

II. The Table of Hope was painted in oil on a “49 X 96” canvas with the used of brush.

a. Dark colors seem to make the painting visually heavy which creates a lamenting effect on the eyes of the audience.

b. The Modern-day Last Supper shows twelve children, instead of twelve apostles, sharing their meal with Jesus.

c. Jesus in painting broke a piece of a pizza pie instead of bread, willingly joined the banquet with those poor dirty children.

d. One can notice that the table used in the painting was a nailed-together delivery boxes commonly used in transporting vegetables and other dry goods.

e. A sickly-looking boy under the left part of the table eating crumbs with the cats was the only part of the painting which is not related to Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”.

III. The twelve children involved in the painting were met by Velasco in slum areas of Manila and have different stories to tell.

a. The child on the left most part, where Judas appeared on Da Vinci’s Last Supper, named “Nene” is a robber who lived in the cemetery.

b. Next to “Nene” is “Joyce” who got pregnant at the age of 14.

c. “Tinay” , next to “Joyce”,  is a five year old girl which prefers to be alone.

d. “Itok Garganera” was the locksmith, math wizard and the gymnast.

e. “Emong” and “Onse”, the two boys at the right side of Jesus were both scrap sellers.

f. Next to “Onse” are “Buknoy” who is a physically abused child, “Michael” who is a jumper at a dumpsite, and “Dodoy” who lives under the bridge.

g. The two children at the right side front of Jesus are “Jun” and “Roselle” who are siblings.

h. The child under the table is the unknown Sudan boy in Kevin Carter’s award winning photo “Sudan Famine”.

IV. Hapag ng Pag-asa shows a dramatic scene which conveys a message to its audience.

a. Velasco said that the children in the painting reveal a story of a greater hunger than a plate of rice could satisfy: the hunger for love.

b. Jesus was the one who gave love to these children in the painting.

c. Despite of different backgrounds of these children, Jesus was willing to dine with them and satisfy their heart and soul with love.

d. The Sudan boy was a symbol of a child that once eat unnecessary foods but now satisfying himself with the fallen crumbs.

e. Velasco also said that the Sudan boy symbolizes him because he doesn’t want to join Jesus with the other children before.

f. This painting really shows a scene that is present in our country today, the presence of poverty which makes children suffer socially, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

Concluding Sentence: The “Table of Hope” was an artwork made by a “Heartist” to enable us to thank God for the Blessing that we have, reminding us to never waste every blessing and lastly to share our blessings with our unfortunate fellowmen.