The Cracks That Bind Us

Modeka Art welcomes the return of Aleth Ocampo to painting, with a presentation of new paintings together with her well-loved ceramic vessels.

“Painting has always been predictable to me: I would have this idea in my head and then create a painting just as I had imagined it. Pottery, in contrast, is not as straightforward. There are various steps in the process that take things out of my control. The effects of luck and circumstance may only be evident in hindsight, when I take the piece out of the kiln. Pottery does not always turn out how I first envision it.
I took up a challenge that was posed to me some years ago: to do a back-to-back show of my paintings and pottery. This exhibit explores the tension between one’s vision and the unpredictability of the process. The paintings represent how I imagine a finished product. The pottery—in various states of progress—some purposefully unfinished, may not turn out how I imagine them.”
Originally trained as a painter, Aleth Ocampo studied concept painting under professor Roberto Chabet at the University of the Philippines. He taught her the habit of creating everyday, no matter what state of mind she was in. Artist, writer and nationalist Emilio Aguilar Cruz was another mentor in her artistic pursuits; he also mentored her brother Ambeth Ocampo in history and writing. They would draw and paint together, while enjoying good food, all three being gourmands and Francophiles. “Tatang Milio” as he was fondly called, introduced her to Romulo Galicano, who took her in as his apprentice at his Quezon City studio. From him she learned color mixing and was exposed to an excellence in drawing, painting and sculpting in the classical style.
Ocampo’s work in pottery progressed in periods over several decades. Her initial experience in the 1980s was at the studio of Lanelle Abueva where she first learned the pinch method and throwing clay on the wheel. In 2005, she continued her training with Pablo Capati III, who taught her more hand building techniques, and then with Joey de Castro at his Mandaluyong studio. It was a collaborative project with de Castro where she learned how to draw and etch on clay plates and apply liquid colored clay inlay—a tedious process with beautiful results.
Over the years, Ocampo’s works were exhibited at Finale Art File, Artinformal, Aphro, BenCab Museum and Museo Iloilo. A chef by profession, she juggles her time between kitchen duties and making art in her home studio. Her recent focus in pottery is with the goal to create vessels for her food and provide private dining guests with the full experience of taste, scent and visual delight in plating with ceramic art.

“The process in bread making and pottery are very similar. It starts with mixing the dough or the clay followed by stretching, kneading, shaping and the final rise for the dough or drying the clay until it reaches the “greenware” stage; finally it is baked/fired in an oven/kiln. With pottery though there is another stage during which glaze is applied then fired once more at a higher temperature so that the glaze melts and becomes permanent. I would say cooking/baking gives me instant gratification as I get feedback as soon as I serve the food to guests, whereas pottery taught me to be patient, to trust the process, learn from mistakes and appreciate delayed gratification.”

Ocampo would work with Pablo Capati III at his Batangas studio, where she met other potters from Australia, Singapore, Japan and Thailand. She also met the younger generation of potters; whether seasoned or maverick, ceramic artists learn from each other as a community. Some of her works are fired at the kiln of Jon and Tessy Pettyjohn, whose pottery she has been collecting and using since the 1980s.
Primarily using the hand building method, Ocampo sculpts functional vessels, to which she merges her experience in painting. She carves outlines for under glaze paints that would be added later in the process. Another layer of glaze ensures that the vessels can be used for serving food; hence creating art pieces that can be part of one’s daily rituals. Figures in the oriental style have been evident even in her early paintings: a series of teacups from her mother’s collection, a series of vintage cigarette labels from her brother’s collection, tarot cards and exotic flowers. Today, Ocampo paints and sculpts from images that surround her: vegetable forms, koi fish and lily pads from a pond outside her kitchen, the colors always bright and happy. “We can try to shape our lives to a vision we have, but life has a way of defying expectations. Things may not always turn out how I plan, but now, I have learned to enjoy and appreciate my journey, rather than be fixated on a destination.”

“The Cracks That Bind Us” features a collection 3 years in the making. Some of the pottery objects were deliberately kept in various stages of completion to give viewers a glimpse of the creative process. Most of the paintings were finished first, and then Ocampo attempted to recreate the figures in the paintings into 3-dimensional forms using ceramic clay. Likewise, some of the objects in the paintings were based on existing ceramics she had previously made. The viewer is then challenged to decipher which came first: the painting or the ceramic object?

Stephanie Frondoso

The Cracks That Bind Us is on view from February 27, 2021 – March 20, 2021. 

To schedule a private viewing, send us an email at info@modeka.space or contact us at 0956 174 9185.

Explore the exhibition online on EXPERIENCES