Octavio Ocampo

I have been in Miami, in the last few days. Got a gig, been keeping busy all day long and trying to catch some sights in the evening. This evening I was at Bayside and noticed lost of little art shops. One of the stores (not an art store) caught my eye though. As I was walking. I saw some truly remarkable art work ahead. I meant to make a right turn but I was just drawn to go and look at these 3 pieces as I approached them, several different images revealed themselves. I am glad I walked straight on. The art work I saw was Octavio Ocampo's work. He has some truly amazing work but it's rather unfortunate that those pieces were reproductions. I would really love to see the originals.

I googled him and found a page that has his collection and his bio. Here is an excerpt from his bio page.

     Octavio Ocampo was born in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico on February 28, 1943. Growing up in a family of designers, he first studied art as a boy. Professor Salvador Zuniga directed the local art school in his hometown. At the art school, Ocampo constructed "papier mache" figures for floats, altars, and ornaments that were used during carnival parades and other festivals. By doing this, he learned about art composition, materials, and techniques. In high school, Ocampo painted murals for the Preparatory School and the City Hall of Celaya. Ruth Riviera, daughter of artist and muralist Diego Rivera, and Maria Luisa "La China" Mendoza saw his work and encouraged him to attend the School of Painting and Sculpture of the National Fine Art Institute.

     The talents of Octavio Ocampo were not limited to painting and sculpture, but also extended to acting and dancing. While at the Art Institute of San Francisco, he studied all these disciplines and pursued both a film and theater career. In 1976, he began to devote himself solely to painting and sculpture. He now works primarily in the metamorphic style – using a technique of superimposing and juxtaposing realistic and figurative details within the images that he creates.
"I am fascinated by the forces of Good and Evil and the Sun (male) and the Moon (female). I live in Tepoztlan, which is a mountainous region southwest of Mexico City, and is considered to be one of the most magical places on earth. Like the Bermuda triangle, there is a strange and unexplained, but extremely powerful, confluence of magnetic forces seemingly concentrated in the Tepozteco Mountain." – Octavio Ocampo

     One has to look long and hard at Octavio’s paintings. The longer one looks at his work, the more that is revealed. Faces come into focus at a distance and metamorphose into something else entirely in close up. Flowers become faces, mountains speak to each other, and mourners over a coffin become the face of Christ. His works are full of symbolism, endlessly fascinating, each revealing a new facet, different to each viewer.

 OCTAVIO OCAMPO GALLERY