Manuel Ocampo

MANUEL OCAMPO (Quezon City, Philippines 1965).
"Europe uber alles." 1993.
Oil and collage on canvas.
Work exhibited at the OMR Gallery, "Manuel Ocampo" exhibition, Mexico City, 1993.
Measurements: 32 x 40 cm.; 63 x 63 cm. (frame).
In the 1990s, Manuel Ocampo developed a subversive iconography, steeped in sarcasm, in which he linked veiled comments on the colonial legacy of Catholicism in his native Philippines with American imperialist policies. In this painting, the juxtaposition of crosses, reproductions of devotional paintings and Christian emblems alongside swastikas is a statement of intent. However, his comments are never literal, since many layers of reading underlie them. Enfant terrible of contemporary art, he would soon be claimed by museums and galleries around the world.
Manuel Ocampo is considered the most important Filipino artist today. His painting, cataloged by the media as “devastating”, “brutal” and “ferocious”, undergoes frequent strategic changes in response to new contexts and themes of study, and is influenced by Punk and cartoons. He works mainly from his hometown, although he has also been based in other places such as California, Seville or Luxembourg. He has held numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally, highlighting: 2018, Yes, Sir / Ma'am! No, Sir/Ma'am! Right Away, Sir/Ma'am! at Tyler Rollins Fine Art (NYC); 2017, Oeuvres: 1994 – 2016, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris; 2017, Hello! Belle Peinture: Thinking of the Beginning of the End of the Death of Painting, Nosbaum Reding Art Contemporain, Luxembourg; 2016, The Corrections, Finale Art File, Makati, Philippines; or in 2016, Sweating the Green Parrot Out, Marie Kirkegaard Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark.