Home Sweet Home at Maypajo, Caloocan: One of H.R. Ocampo’s Last Works
Muses are no stranger to Filipino artists. There's the dalaga for Amorsolo, the Madonna of the Slums for Manansala, the cyclists and performers for Luz—and curiously, Maypajo, Caloocan for H.R. Ocampo.
Although Ocampo was born in Santa Cruz, Manila, his family later moved to Maypajo, Caloocan, when he was five. It was there where Ocampo faced the harsh realities of life. Eager to help his financially struggling family, Ocampo became a shoe-shine boy for both local and foreign customers of the nearby cabarets. Then, at 17, he became a cashier at the Maypajo cabaret. (Ocampo playfully recounted that aside from tending the cash register, he also dated some of the bailarinas (hostesses) whose daily attendances he checked.)
Strangely but fittingly, Maypajo would become the focal point of Ocampo's third solo exhibition in May 1978—fittingly as some of the works were his homage to his beloved hometown, yet strangely because it was only his third solo exhibition after four solid decades in the art scene.
The work at hand, Good Friday in Caloocan, was among the seven acrylic works (all measuring 30 inches by 40 inches) exhibited in Ocampo's milestone third one-man show held at the Peninsula Manila Gallery in Makati. Aside from being an homage to his dear Maypajo, the said exhibition marked Ocampo's 67th birthday, and as art critic Leonidas V. Benesa describes in his Philippines Daily Express article "Ocampo's Seven in red, white, and black"—”a change in color and design.”
While Ocampo first incorporated acrylic into his oeuvre in 1974, the works in the show are made distinct by the artist's reduction of his palette to only black, white, and red. "The forms and shapes aren't different," succinctly writes Benesa, "but it is the first time Ocampo has tried to paint paintings in black and white, the two-color polarities, with the color red used to accentuate the design, dramatically.
Sixty-two years after experiencing the harsh realities of life in Maypajo, Ocampo would again experience "harshness," this time from critics and fellow artists. The notable change in color Ocampo exhibits in Good Friday in Caloocan and the other works in the show were his sassy response to critics for lashing out at his supposed creative stagnation. According to Benesa, the critics deemed Ocampo "no longer as creative as he used to be, or that in any case, he is on a plateau, basking in the adulation of admirers."
Benesa even shared a juicy tidbit about why Ocampo originally produced the paintings: "At a meeting of the First Friday group at the house of Vicente Manansala, Cesar Legaspi—one of the original Neorealists, is said to have suddenly lashed out at both the host and Ocampo for having allowed themselves to fall into the rot of complacency and repetition." It was then revealed to Ocampo by Betty, Legaspi’s wife, that Cesar was “intoxicated.”
With the works' fiery reds and unforgiving blacks, tempered only by the pure yet wailing whites, Ocampo makes clear his own stand. And while indeed, there are works in the exhibition that are subtle responses against Legaspi, mainly "When Aries Became a Bull" (Legaspi's zodiac sign was Aries, and the reds in Ocampo's new paintings are meant to provoke him like a bull), Good Friday in Caloocan softens Ocampo's sweet retribution by redirecting the focus towards the artist's beloved Maypajo.
The work at hand evokes not only the solemnity of Christ's crucifixion and death but also the distinctiveness of the Filipinos' religious-cum-cultural fervor surrounding Lent, particularly on Good Friday. With the impassioned reds, meditative blacks, and purifying whites, Ocampo captures the Caloocan (and Filipino) penitensya manifested in various degrees—ranging from the modest fasting, abstinence, pabasa, senakulo, and siete palabras, to the more extreme self-flagellation. Retrospectively, Good Friday in Caloocan is a full-circle moment for Ocampo. Maypajo was where he learned the searing lessons of life. To Maypajo, he dedicates a body of work encapsulating the penetratingly fulfilling (and sometimes grating) realities of living within a dynamic art landscape. For Ocampo, criticism can be handled with much gusto and restrained elegance.
Good Friday in Caloocan would become one of Ocampo's last works, as he would untimely die of a heart attack on December 28, 1978. (Adrian Maranan)
Exhibited: The Peninsula Manila Gallery, H.R. Ocampo: Third Solo Exhibition (A Celebration of H.R. Ocampo's 67th Birthday), Makati, 28 April - 25 May 1978
Literature: De Jesus, Angel G. H.R. Ocampo: The Artist as Filipino. Quezon City: Heritage Publishing House, 1979. Black-and-white illustration on page 38 and listed as "51. Good Friday in Caloocan" with painting description on page 39. Benesa, Leonidas V. "Ocampo's Seven in red, white, and black," Philippines Daily Express. May 12, 1978. Mentioned in the article as "Good Friday in Caloocan." "H.R., too, believes in 'lucky seven'," Journal. April 23, 1978. Captured in a black-and-white photograph of the artist painting the work.