Mga Kiti
1978
Acrylic on tetoron
90 x 900 cm (35 1/2 x 354 1/3 in)
An artist, journalist and poet, National Artist Hernando R. Ocampo (1911-1978) paved the way for the development of abstract art in the Philippines through his constant experimentation in augmenting space through complex relationships between colors and shapes. Created in the final year of his life, Mga Kiti was H.R. Ocampo’s grand opus - the culmination of a forty-year career that forever changed the landscape of Philippine art history.
In 1938, Ocampo was part of an anti-conservative vanguard known as the Thirteen Moderns under the leadership of Victorio Edades that included, among others, Carlos ‘Botong’ Francisco, Anita Magsaysay-Ho and Cesar Legaspi. Although each had varied styles, subject matters, and techniques, the Thirteen Moderns allowed for a dialogue to exist between the then emerging iconoclasts in the exploration of modernist ideas.
After World War II, Ocampo spearheaded the Neo-Realist movement which consisted of a group of artists that again included Legaspi together with Ramon Estella, Romeo Tabuena and Victor Oyteza. Rebelling against the idealized utopic genre scenes which were accepted by the establishment and which became known collectively as academic paintings, the Neo-Realists sought to redefine the art of the time through non-objective compositions and abstractions. Ocampo described Neo-Realism as, “creating a new kind of reality…each was veering away from the realistic, strictly figurative type of painting.” The term was coined by E. Aguilar Cruz and inspired by Italian 19th century literary critic Francesco de Sanctis who was quoted in the first Neo-Realist exhibition documentary of 1950 saying, “To create reality, an artist must first have the force to kill it. But instantly, the fragments draw together again, in love with one another, seeking one another, coming together with desire, with the obscure presentiment of the new life to which they are destined.”
Unlike his contemporaries, Ocampo was self-taught. Unexposed to formal conventions of art and having never travelled abroad, his artistic style unfolded organically and gradually saw a progression from his earlier figurative works towards pure abstraction. Through nonobjectivity, Ocampo aimed for coherence, focusing on the relationships of shapes, line and color rather than physical representations of objects. His artistic leanings echoed the beliefs of the De Stijl movement in the Netherlands at the turn of the 20th century which called for a focus on the ‘plastic’ aspects of painting such as structure and pure geometry and the relationships that occur within these confines. National Artist Cesar Legaspi said of Ocampo’s abstractions, “I think the impact of those paintings was needed then as the controversy between the moderns and the conservatives was going full blast and we had to have some kind of exemplar as to how far and how powerful a new kind of art could be.”
Unlike his contemporaries, Ocampo was self-taught. Unexposed to formal conventions of art and having never travelled abroad, his artistic style unfolded organically and gradually saw a progression from his earlier figurative works towards pure abstraction. Through nonobjectivity, Ocampo aimed for coherence, focusing on the relationships of shapes, line and color rather than physical representations of objects. His artistic leanings echoed the beliefs of the De Stijl movement in the Netherlands at the turn of the 20th century which called for a focus on the ‘plastic’ aspects of painting such as structure and pure geometry and the relationships that occur within these confines. National Artist Cesar Legaspi said of Ocampo’s abstractions, “I think the impact of those paintings was needed then as the controversy between the moderns and the conservatives was going full blast and we had to have some kind of exemplar as to how far and how powerful a new kind of art could be.”
Unlike his contemporaries, Ocampo was self-taught. Unexposed to formal conventions of art and having never travelled abroad, his artistic style unfolded organically and gradually saw a progression from his earlier figurative works towards pure abstraction. Through nonobjectivity, Ocampo aimed for coherence, focusing on the relationships of shapes, line and color rather than physical representations of objects. His artistic leanings echoed the beliefs of the De Stijl movement in the Netherlands at the turn of the 20th century which called for a focus on the ‘plastic’ aspects of painting such as structure and pure geometry and the relationships that occur within these confines. National Artist Cesar Legaspi said of Ocampo’s abstractions, “I think the impact of those paintings was needed then as the controversy between the moderns and the conservatives was going full blast and we had to have some kind of exemplar as to how far and how powerful a new kind of art could be.”
In the 1950s, Ocampo ventured into figurative work with a series of paintings revolving around masks and shields, a precursor to his later chromatic abstractions. In the catalogue of the artist’s retrospective at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in 1991, the critic Rod. Paras-Perez wrote of the artist’s style: ‘He studied the effects of simultaneous color contrasts while he kept pace with the thematic concerns of his group. He also looked at his shapes—constantly weighing the effects achieved by using close[d] and open shapes. His mask and shield series was the perfect vehicle for this pursuit.” Toward the 70s, Ocampo delved deeper into abstraction, producing some of the most iconic work of his career. While plotting his compositions, he often numbered the biomorphic shapes he drew—the numbers each corresponding to a color. This type of calculation allowed Ocampo to be completely in control of the medium and outcome.
Created in 1978, Mga Kiti is one of only two monumental-sized Ocampo artworks, and the only one in private hands, the other being the Genesis tapestry curtain which is part of the collection of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The term kiti is a reference to either mosquito larvae or duck embryos—both creatures embodying not only periods of naissance, but also dynamism, potential, and growth. Spanning three feet high and an astounding thirty feet wide, graduated and undulating biomorphic shapes in shades of yellow, orange and crimson are arranged into totem-shaped organisms that appear to pulsate, their forms repeating throughout the entire length of the tetoron cloth – the fabric type enabling the master to paint in one continuous spread. Much like his pure abstractions, Ocampo was purposeful in the placement of color, the prisms playing off of each other and through a trompe l’oeil or trick of the eye, imbuing the organisms with a palpable semblance of movement. The effect of this vivid pageant of forms and color evokes a sense of horror vacuii that is at once solemnly majestic as it also conveys an overwhelming sense of carnivalesque celebration. Most interesting about Ocampo’s choice of subject is his return to figuration, the intermingling of primitive forms coming full circle back to his work in the 50s and early 60s which is telling of the artist’s mindset at the time of its creation.
The painting was only displayed once, at an exhibition at the GSIS in the 1990s and it remains in excellent condition owing to the utmost care given to it by its owner, the vibrancy of its imagery impeccably preserved as if it had just left the master’s studio.
An extremely rare and important painting to come to market, Mga Kiti is a tour de force, a lasting emblem of the unparalleled genius of H.R. Ocampo
Ocampo explored forms similar to those in ‘Mga Kiti’ decades prior. On the left, ‘Playmates,’ 1958 and the right, ‘Totem Forms,’ 1963.
The cover and inside pages of ‘Hernando R. Ocampo: National Artist 1991 published by the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The last page of the catalogue (center) pictures ‘Mga Kiti.’