The paintings of Manuel Ocampo are not stories, nor do the webs of images and symbols that he weaves together point to a specific thing. Rather, the meaning implied by the signs and visual vocabularies employed by the artist is accumulative, presented to audiences in a way that remains deliberately opaque. The artist says this method of presentation is emblematic of the way he works, from a position of uncertainty that ensures his paintings remain open to a spectrum of interpretations. Within this, Ocampo and his work are able to retain a degree of autonomy, away from any pre-conceived assumptions and desires of those who look at his work within arenas of contemporary art. Manuel Ocampo is a painter who plays with religious and cultural symbolism and iconography. In 1985, he moved to California. In 2017, he represented the Philippines at the 57th Venice Biennale. In 2010, Ocampo started Bastards of Misrepresentation, an international exhibition series created to promote the Manila art scene. In 2003, Ocampo moved back to the Philippines and co-founded the Department of Avant-Garde Clichés Gallery and Bureau of Artistic Rehab in Manila, where he lives and works.

Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with assistance from Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Station Gallery, and NIRIN 500 patrons. Courtesy the artist and STATION, Australia.