The Vortex
signed and dated 1962 (lower right)
oil on canvas
40” x 30” (102 cm x 76 cm)

Provenance:
Acquired directly by George Y. Huang from the artist in 1962, thence by descent.
George Y. Huang was an original incorporator and founder of Commonwealth Foods, Inc. (makers of Ricoa Chocolate, Café Puro, among others). In 1962 he arrived home and surprised his wife, Rosa, that he had just bought a painting from Mr. Ocampo, describing it as like an erupting volcano.

“In my pictures, I am interested in how shapes, hues, values, textures and lines interact on one another in space,” shares H.R. Ocampo, “rather than in capturing a photographic semblance of nature.”

Ocampo considered the years 1945 to 1963 in his art practice as his Transitional Period, when he was largely preoccupied with non-objective painting.

This piece, then, “The Vortex,” from ‘62, would very wall fall under this category. At this juncture, as written in the book on the artist by Angel G. De Jesus, “his figures and natural objects became simplified. He disregarded perspective and his forms became increasingly distorted.” The flattening of planes and unity of composition and design thus became his impetus.”