MANUEL OCAMPO
Paintings The Lord Taught Us
15 October – 12 November 2022

STATION | MELBOURNE

Born and based in the Philippines, Manuel Ocampo is recognised as an essential presence in the global art scene. Paintings The Lord Taught Us is his third solo exhibition with STATION. Referencing The Cramps' debut album “Songs The Lord Taught Us”, Ocampo’s exhibition challenges hierarchical systems, refusing the notion of high and low culture and culturally right or wrong stances.

Paintings The Lord Taught Us includes a suite of rich, iconoclastic paintings, which capture and parody cherished symbols of the church through the lens of a still life. Placing typically commonplace objects beside highly charged sanctified and sacred motifs, such as the cross, the bible and the sacred heart, Ocampo’s paintings deliberately contradict each other. With subtlety, humour, ambiguity, the artist challenges audiences to question notions of religious and symbolic influence, while allowing space for multiple narratives to be present.

Installation Views

Paintings The Lord Taught Us, Manuel Ocampo
Paintings The Lord Taught Us, Manuel Ocampo
Paintings The Lord Taught Us, Manuel Ocampo
Paintings The Lord Taught Us, Manuel Ocampo
Paintings The Lord Taught Us, Manuel Ocampo
Paintings The Lord Taught Us, Manuel Ocampo
Paintings The Lord Taught Us, Manuel Ocampo
Paintings The Lord Taught Us, Manuel Ocampo
Paintings The Lord Taught Us, Manuel Ocampo

Artworks

Manuel Ocampo
Cross + Eye circa 1925 2022
Oil on canvas
29.0 × 30.0 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Passion of the Cross w/ fetuses circa 1923 2022
Oil on canvas
102.5 × 60.5 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Utopia 1932 2022
Oil and acrylic on canvas
72.0 × 54.5 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Dead Christ circa 1921
Oil on canvas
76.4 × 55.5 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Heraldry w/ rats circa 1945 2022
Oil on canvas
60.5 × 45.0 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Adoration of the Chicken circa 1922 2022
Oil on canvas
76.5 × 56.2 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Morandi 2022
Oil on canvas
75.5 × 56.0 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Cross, Serpent, Charcuterie circa 1921 2022
Oil on canvas
104.0 × 62.8 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Vulture and Monkey circa 1922 2022
Oil and acrylic on canvas
101.1 × 77.5 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Les Beaux Temps 1920 2022
Oil on canvas
82.7 × 61.0 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Cross, chicken, fried eggs circa 1920 2022
Oil on canvas
76.0 × 56.2 cm

Manuel Ocampo
Vobris, Supris, Vuesca, Tiaberum 2022
Oil on canvas
55.5 × 40.6 cm