Freeing Aesthetic Pleasure
Manuel Ocampo’s early work was not exactly family fare. The Philippines-born Berkeley-based artist made his splash in the ‘90s with horrific images of dismemberment and visceral symbols of violent political activity. Those images, rendered skillfully to suggest traditional retablo paintings, explored the meaning and timelessness of cultural violence.But a year ago, after Ocampo and his wife and manager Sherry Apostol had their first son, Juliåo, ocampo’s paintings began to change. "My new work is like Pokémon meets van Gogh," he chuckles. "For me it’s new territory, more formal and more playful. I know it’s a cliché, but having a kid humbles you."
His recent paintings, shown with earlier work in Berkeley-based Babilonia 1808’s Free Aesthetic Pleasure Now! exhibit, are disembodied phrases wrested from unnamed art theory books. "I try to forget who wrote them. They become abstracted in that sense," he says.
There’s also a practical aspect to the new works. A trained sign painter, Ocampo can paint them quickly. "With Juliåo around, I have to paint fast--– that’s part of why the work’s different."
International critics praise Ocampo’s works for the way they combine harsh and subtle elements. He has exhibited at galleries in Madrid, Paris, Mexico City, New York, and Los Angeles. Yet he hasn’t exhibited in the Bay Area since 1994. Filipina activist and art collector Malou Babilonia says, "I was floored the first time I saw his work. Finally there was someone whose paintings spoke to issues that related to me." ––Glen Helfand