Octavio Ocampo

Text in English, German & Spanish. Octavio Ocampo is one of Mexicos most prolific artists. Octavio was born on 28 February 1943 in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico. He grew up in a family of designers, and studied art from early childhood. Ruth Rivera, daughter of artist and muralist Diego Rivera, and Maria Luisa Mendoza encouraged him to attend the School of Painting and Sculpture of the National Fine Art Institute. The talents of Octavio Ocampo are not limited to painting and sculpture, but also extended to acting and dancing. At the Art Institute of San Francisco, he studied all these disciplines and pursued both a film and theatre career. In 1976, he began to devote himself solely to painting and sculpture. He now works primarily in the metamorphic style -- using a technique of superimposing and juxtaposing realistic and figurative details within the images that he creates. Ocampo is known for several works in his sometimes wryly sardonic, sometimes evocative paintings in which detailed images are intricately woven together to create larger images -- the optical illusions fading back and stepping forward as you study the pieces, notice the details, and finally recognise the large scale intention. This is what Octavio Ocampo terms his "metamorphic" style. The Visions Fine Art Gallery in Sedona, Arizona represents Octavio Ocampo in the United States. Several collections in Mexico contain his work, and individual works of his have been commissioned for former President Jimmy Carter, Jane Fonda, Cher and others.