His career began with the encounter with Giovanni Testori and participation in the exhibition Artisti e Scrittori at Rotonda della Besana in Milan. After several solo shows, his painting concentrated on the tragedy that destroyed part of Valtellina at the end of the 1980s, work that converged in the exhibition Paesaggio Cancellato curated by Roberto Tassi (1990). At the end of the 1990s he was invited to the Rome Quadriennale, and began a research on the ports of the Mediterranean and southern Italy: this led to Isolitudine in collaboration with Ferdinando Scianna in 2000, and MIXtura with Franco Battiato in 2003. The following year Electa published Velasco 20, a monograph on the artist’s first twenty years of work, with contribution from Giulio Giorello. Extramoenia (2004-2005) was an exhibition organized by the Region of Sicily, held in Palermo (Palazzo Belmonte Riso) and Milan (Palazzo della Ragione). In 2005 his work became part of the collection of the MACRO in Rome. With curator Danilo Eccher, he produced exhibitions Immagini, forme e natura delle Alpi (2007) and LATO4 (2008). Fernando Mazzocca and Francesco Poli curated Sbarco (2010), set up in Piazza Duomo, in the complex of Sant’Agostino at Pietrasanta, and in Milan in Piazza Duca d'Aosta, as well as at the Palazzo Reale. In 2011 he was invited to exhibit at the Italian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, showing Veidrodis; LKFF Gallery in Brussels hosted his solo show Branco, and the volume Apriti Cielo was published by Skira, featuring watercolors on the theme of the sacred, including some of the drawings made for the culture section of Il Corriere della Sera, the newspaper with which he has been working since 2007. In 2012 he created Foresta Rossa, an art intervention on Isola Madre (Stresa) and in Verbania, curated by Luca Molinari. The reflections on the ghost towns that formed the basis of this installation continued into the next year and resulted in a solo painting exhibition Foresta Rossa: 416 città fantasma nel mondo at Triennale di Milano, curated by Luca Molinari and Francesco Clerici. That same year a solo show of sculpture was produced at LKFF in Brussels, the installation of Branco, a group of sculptures at the Vittoriale degli Italiani curated by Flavio Arensi, and the monumental project Medi Terraneo at Castello Ruffo di Scilla. On 14 April 2014 he showed the sculpture Traditio Symboli in the Cathedral of Milan and took part in the IV Biennale Gherdeina of sculpture in Ortisei, Val Gardena. In February 2015 he was invited to the Berlinale (FIPRESCI award winner) as the producer and protagonist of the documentary Gesto Delle Mani (Hand gesture) directed by Francesco Clerici, which shows the making of his bronze dog sculpture. 2015 is the year of his solo show Fuga, curated by Mark Gisbourne and Giacinto di Pietrantonio in Emilio Mazzoli Gallery in Modena. In 2017 he designed and curated (with the collaboration of Peter Greenaway) an exhibition Time Out dedicated to Giancarlo Vitali at Palazzo Reale Sforesco Castle, Museum of Natural History and Casa del Manzoni (Milan). 2019 begun with an exhibition Veduta, curated by Danilo Eccher at the M77 Gallery in Milan; in the same year he re-proposes the installation Branco at the Royal Court of the Reggia di Venaria in Turin and in 2020 in collaboration with Arte Sella and Mart of Rovereto he designed monument to the resistance for the museum's sculpture park in conjunction with Castel Ivano (TN). That year the work Sbarco was presented in two different versions at the new PART museum in Rimini and at the Mole Vanvitelliana in Ancona. Between 2020 and 2021 he has presented Goldwatch exhibition at Assab One gallery in Milan, which later is shown at the Circolo di Bellano exhibition space. Currently he collaborates with the Giovanni Falcone Foundation in Palermo on Spazi Capaci - Comunità Capaci, project curated by Alessandro De Lisi with a monumental intervention in the bunker hall of the Ucciardone prison.