ABOUT THE WORK

Hernando R. Ocampo’s Abstraction 13 and Abstraction 21 both feature the native sensibilities of his works. Both done on April 17 of 1976, they contain the culmination of Ocampo’s illustrious career as it was done just two years before his death. One could argue that Ocampo’s brilliant sense of color is wholly and truly Filipino. Despite a multitude of chances to study abroad, Ocampo took the path less traveled and chose to stay in the country, studying the Western masters only through reproductions instead of facing them in real life. The result is an innate sense of color as Filipino as one artist could be. Abstraction 13 and Abstraction 21 indulge in the vibrant, fiery yellows reminiscent of the hot summer afternoons that are as recognizable as sublime in their pursuit of translating musicality into his pieces. Organic shapes fill the canvases and yet, Ocampo’s abstraction manages to translate his thoughts almost perfectly with his lifelong quest to understand colors leading to his usage of hues in place of form, shapes, figures, and space. As such, it is easy to imagine the sweltering heat of the summer Ocampo painted the pieces in, intimate and warm in their abstractions. (Hannah Valiente)