Octavio Ocampo

Every person has feelings. These feelings are aroused by a catalyst. A touch, a smell, a sight. When a person does art, his or her duty is to titillate the viewer. His or her work must be passionate, captivating and able to be thought about. When an artist renders a piece, be it a painting, water color, sculpture, dance or poem, he or she must inspire the viewer to come back and look at it a second and a third time. The artist must expand his or her mind to engulf others. Octavio Ocampo has accomplished all this and more. Around the world millions of people have become enthralled with his innovative style. People are fascinated by his work. Everyone from the art connoisseur to businessmen and professionals are thrilled by the reactions they get when one of his pieces is on their walls. His works are "conversation pieces" done in a style which has been deemed Metamorphic art. Pictured here is Lupe.

Metamorphic art is a new innovative style which blends Dali like surrealism with landscape realism. Each picture is a complete landscape in of itself. This technique "superimposes and juxtaposes realistic and figurative" details within images he creates. Only upon closer scrutiny do you actually realize that each facet of the work is something else. In Metamorphic art flowers become faces. Mourners over coffins become the face of Christ, a bicycle becomes a pair of celebrity glasses. His works are full of symbolism. Each is endlessly fascinating, revealing something different to each new viewer. And each new viewer looks a second time, and a third. The longer a person stares at a painting, the more one sees. Faces come into focus at a distance and "metamorphose" into something entirely different under close observation.

His works are included in major collections in Mexico, The national Palace, and in the private collections of the last three presidents. In Europe, the late Florence

Gould had a landscape of the New York skyline from her apartment, at her house at Cap D'Antibes. HM, the king of Spain, is also an admirer of Ocampo's work. Octavio is admired for his ingenuity and uniqueness from other modern artists. He is known mainly throughout the North American art scene. Aside from doing work on canvas, his works include murals in public buildings in Mexico and commissioned portraits of Jane Fonda, Cher, Cecar Chavez and Jimmy Carter.

Octavio Ocampo's talents are not just limited to oil painting, though it is his favorite medium. He also sculpts, acts and dances. He studied all three of these disciplines while enrolled in the institute in San Francisco. He pursued a career in both film and theater until 1976 when he devoted himself solely to art

Ocampo was born On February 28, 1943 in Celaya, a village located in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. Guanajuato is a city where Mexican art and culture can be explored and discovered. The state itself is located in the central part of Mexico, between Jalisco

and Michoacan. Celaya, as well as Leon and San Miguel de Allende are know for their beautiful landscape and exquisiteness of the merchandise sold there. Guanajuato has a climate averaging 65.5 degrees Fahrenheit and lays about 2000 meters above seal level on the plateau. Its name comes from the Tarascan dialect which means "Place of Frogs."

Another well known Latin American artist finds his roots in Guanajuato, Mexico. Diego Rivera grew up in Celaya as well. Rivera (1886-1957) is one of the most renowned Latin American artists. He is known for his murals. His deeds include the founding of the Mexican Muralist Movement with Jose Clement Orozco and David Siqueiros. They painted their first mural at the Anfiteatro Bolivar at the National Predatory School in Mexico City. Rivera also painted numerous murals in Mexico City and the United States, including those in the Palacio Nacional, Ministerio de Educacion Publica, the San Francisco Stock Exchange, Detroit's Institute of Fine Arts and the Rockefeller Center. The last being destroyed due to controversy surrounding a portrait of Lenin.

As well as being considered Mexico's leading muralist, Rivera also produced many sketches, watercolors and paintings. Diego Rivera was considered a genius in the

intellectual and artistic fields. artistic achievements were monumental. His intellectual and artistic genius allowed him to product first-rate Symbolist paintings while he was in Spain, Cubist works while in France as well as Cezannesque and Ingresque paintings during his final years in Paris.

In 1921 Rivera returned to Mexico and began searching for his interpretation of a "pure" Mexican art form. He abandoned the classical teachings he

received and created his "popular style" images. He painted daily tasks: Peasants grinding corn, burden bearers, flower carriers, and dancers were