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Manuel Ocampo: Contemporary Psychology and The Theoretical Steroid Defiled Modernist Chicken
30 September – 5 November 2011

Det er med særlig stor glæde, at SOD Space of Drawings kan byde velkommen til den filippinske kunstner Manuel Ocampos første soloudstilling i Danmark.

I en serie helt nye tegninger udført til udstillingen søger Ocampo under titlen Contemporary Psychology and The Theoretical Steroid Defiled Modernist Chicken, at påberåbe sig spøgelserne fra Modernismens fortid for at spekulere over en kultur vaklende under af sine egne falske forudsætninger på sammenbruddets rand, og blotlægge individets kamp mod fremmedgørende kollektivisme, frygten for jordens undergang, manglende selvtillid og sublim melankoli.

Manuel Ocampo fusionerer ofte en barok religiøs ikonografi med samtidige politiske kommentarer i sine billeder, og hans arbejder drager fra en bred vifte af kunsthistoriske referencer, satiriske karikaturelementer og punkens subkulturer.
I hans nye serie Contemporary Psychology and The Theoretical Steroid Defiled Modernist Chicken demonstrerer Ocampo sin helt særlige evne til at kombinere en malerisk vildskab med det allegoriske og illustrative, som skaber en interessant spændvidde i hans arbejde og i tegnekunsten generelt i dag.

Manuel Ocampo er født 1965 Quezon City, Filippinerne, og flyttede allerede i 1980’erne til Los Angeles, hvor han blev uddannet fra California State University. Siden hans kontroversielle bidrag til IX. Documenta i 1992, hvor et af hans malerier bød på svastikas, er han oftest kendt for sin kraftfulde symbolisme, som kommenterer konfliktfulde kultursammenstød og politiske overherredømmer gennem historien.

Hans værker er blevet vist på en lang række gallerier, museer og biennaler verden over, blandt andet på den legendariske udstilling Helter Skelter på MOCA i Los Angeles og ved Venedig Biennalen 2001, og hans arbejder indgår ligeledes i store samlinger som Whitney Museum i New York, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan og MOCA, Los Angeles.

Manuel Ocampo: Contemporary Psychology and The Theoretical Steroid Defiled Modernist Chicken
30 September – 5 November 2011

It is with great pleasure that SOD Space of Drawings introduces the first solo exhibition in Denmark of Filipino artist Manuel Ocampo.

In a new series of drawings created specifically for the exhibition entitled Contemporary Psychology and The Theoretical Steroid Defiled Modernist Chicken, Ocampo tries to invoke the ghosts of Modernism’s past to ruminate on a culture ready to self-implode teetering on its own false pretenses and the individual’s plight against dehumanizing standardization, the fear of impending doom, self-doubt, and sublime melancholy.

Manuel Ocampo’s imagery often 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.

In his new series Contemporary Psychology and The Theoretical Steroid Defiled Modernist Chicken, Ocampo demonstrates his remarkable ability to combine a painterly wildness juxtaposed with the allegorical and illustrative. Through this he creates an interesting and broad spectrum in both his own practice and more generally in drawn art today.

Born in 1965 in the Philippines, Manuel Ocampo moved to Los Angeles in the 1980’s, where he studied at the California State University. Since his controversial statement for the IX. Documenta in 1992, where one of his paintings featured swasticas, he has largely been known for his powerful symbolism, communicating a conflict of culture and political overlords, throughout history.

His works have been shown at a wide range of galleries, museums and biennales all over the world including the legendary exhibition Helter Skelter at MOCA in Los Angeles, and at the Venice Biennale in 2001. His works are also featured in large permanent collections at the Whitney Museum in New York, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan and MOCA, Los Angeles.