Manuel Ocampo at Pablo Fort

MANILA, Philippines - Manuel Ocampo mounts “Monuments to the Institutional Critique of Myself” which opens on Aug. 29 at Pablo Fort. The show is on view until Sept. 26.

Ocampo’s work addresses the relationship between painting and sculpture and the politics of display. In this exhibition Manuel Ocampo has devoted himself exclusively to sculpture and the sculptural surface yet painting is still amply present in the show, although painting is given some multi-dimensionality by way of presenting the entrenched sculptural element inherent in painting’s support, it’s “objectness,” such as the stretcher bar. This sculptural “objectness” is further articulated upon by having the paintings suspended in the middle of the room. The viewer is then made conscious of the other side of the paintings. Furthermore, the back of the paintings are painted and glued with collages and other studio detritus like bottles of wine and beer, toilet brush and brooms. These objects are hung from the wooden bars, protruding beyond the confines of the frame. This then creates a sculptural dimension in an otherwise flat object: A Jekyll and Hyde effect, as the artist describes, between the flat pictorial aspect in front and the multi-dimensionality in the back.

 “Monuments to the Institutional Critique of Myself” is Manuel Ocampo’s first solo exhibition at Pablo. In 2009 he presented “I am Nothing Other than Somebody Else’s Idea of Myself” as part of the group show “The Making of Art” at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt. His most recent solo exhibition included a tattoo artist to tattoo the artist’s drawings and was titled “She Has a Hot Ass,” shown this May at The Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces in Melbourne.

Pablo Gallery is at Unit C-11, South of Market Condominium, Fort Bonifacio, Global City, Taguig. For information, call 986-3887, e-mail fort@pablogalleries.com or visit www.pablogalleries.com.