Fish Vendors
signed (lower right)
oil on canvas
25 3/4" x 34 3/4" (65 cm x 88 cm)

PROVENANCEPrivate Collection, Manila


The celebrated modernist Oscar Zalameda is Lucban's most treasured and notable personality. His revered stature is second only to the town's famed Pahiyas Festival. As an artist possessing a dynamic nature, Zalameda is the personal embodiment of Lucban's colorful heritage. During his artistic prime, he regularly invited his friends to stay in the Lucban house he built and experience the high-spiritedness of the Pahiyas. Zalameda's unfaltering bond with his hometown is manifested in his works. The artist's animated interpretation of Cubism reflects the town's vibrancy. Forms and colors merge, engendering a charming visual poetry that evokes an exuberant celebration of Zalameda's native roots. This quality is particularly apparent in this piece's technical brilliance, in which the artist depicts fisher folks after a day's bountiful catch of blessings from the sea. Zalameda paints a bursting pink backdrop that complements and enhances, not oversaturates, the entire composition. The subjects' well-defined figures are made distinct through the boldness of their colors. Through this harmonious interplay between form and color—and his fostering of Lucban-inspired aesthetics, Zalameda pays cordial homage to his origins. Thus, Zalameda was among the first recipients of the Quezon Medalya ng Karangalan in the early 1970s. (A.M.)