Manuel Ocampo
Manuel Ocampo is known for his frequent and strategic stylistic drifts in response to new contexts and subject matter. His shows are often constructed around contradictory tendencies, elaborating discrepancies between what a painting appears to be and how it behaves in relation to the structures that legitimate its appearance.
BIOGRAPHY
Manuel Ocampo (born 1965) is a Filipino artist. His work fuses sacred Baroque religious iconography with secular political narrative. His works draw upon a wide range of art historical references, contain cartoonish elements, and draw inspiration from punk subculture.
Manuel Ocampo was born in the Philippines. He studied fine arts at the University of the Philippines, then moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1980s, where he studied at the California State University. Ocampo has since moved to back to Manila living with his wife and has four children.
Ocampo frequently revisits and makes reference to the art historical canon of political allegorists including Leon Golub, Géricault, Goya, Daumier with allusions to contemporary figures including political satirist R. Crumb Modernist painter Philip Guston. Ocampo's dark, often disturbing Gothic paintings are attributed with transforming horror into exquisite beauty, history into art history, purgatory into salvation. One of his pieces featuring several swastikas was censored at the Dokumenta art show in Kassel, Germany.
Manuel Ocampo has exhibited extensively throughout the 1990s, with solo exhibitions at galleries and institutions through Europe, Asia, and the Americas. In 2005, his work was the subject of a large-scale survey at Casa Asia in Barcelona, and Lieu d’Art Contemporain, Sigean, France.
Ocampo is known for his frequent and strategic stylistic drifts in response to new contexts and subject matter. His shows are often constructed around contradictory tendencies, elaborating discrepancies between what a painting appears to be and how it behaves in relation to the structures that legitimate its appearance. He always embraces sudden shifts of style and emphasis. He paints, but doubt is created as to whether any particular medium is the solution.
GALLERY
AVAILABLE ARTWORK
EXPLORE EXHIBITIONS
Better to Reign in Hell Than Serve in Heaven
EXHIBITION DATESMarch 19 to April 11, 2026CURATED BYPow MartinezFEATURED ARTISTSARGIE BANDOY ARVIN NOGUERAS MARIJA VICENTE PAUL MONDOK POW MARTINEZ ROBERT LANGENEGGER TIMMY HARN VICTORIA KEETIn BETTER TO REIGN IN HELL THAN SERVE IN HEAVEN, interdisciplinary rebellion...
These Days
EXHIBITION DATESFebruary 13 to March 13, 2026CURATED BYLynyrd ParasFEATURED ARTISTSBENG ESPIRITU GIAN MIROE LENDL ARVIN CARL DUMDUM JETT OSIAN LYNYRD PARAS CIRON SEÑERES JOSEPH FRAYLON MAC VALDEZCO CRIST ESPIRITU JOSEPH TECSON MARIBEL MAGPOC DALE ERISPE KEB CERDA...
From Our Living Room To Yours | Art Fair Philippines 2026
February 6 to February 8, 2026 the Circuit Corporate Center One at the Circuit MakatiCURATED BYCocoy Lumbao, Jr.FEATURED ARTISTSAllan Balisi Arvin Nogueras Bjorn Calleja Christina Lopez Dex Fernandez Jonathing Ching Kabunyan De Guia Kiko Escora Luis Antonio Santos...
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