Tres Mujeres Con Flores
signed (lower left)ca. 1980
oil on canvas
24" x 30" (61 cm x 76 cm)


PROVENANCE: The Metro Gallery



Oscar Zalameda’s breezy form of cubism provides a fresh breath of air to the Philippine art scene. Born in Lucban, Quezon, Zalameda’s provincial lifestyle became a source of inspiration for the artist, marrying the pastoral scenery with the high society aesthetic the notoriously theatrical Zalameda later found himself gravitating towards. In Tres Mujeres Con Flores (translating to Three Women with Flowers from Spanish), Zalameda's penchant for both the Filipino and the flamboyant is on full display. In vibrant gem-like colors that remind the viewers of Lucban's yearly Pahiyas Festival, the artist depicts three women huddled together, each with overflowing flower baskets. Gone are the customary detailed rural sceneries; in its place, Zalameda leaves the background bare, turning his full attention to the women in their provincial garb. In Tres Mujeres Con Flores, he looks back at his bucolic past with rose-tinted high-end sunglasses, his nostalgia mixing with his high society inclinations. Zalameda left the country in 1953 to study in San Francisco before later departing for Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts and the Sorbonne in Paris. In 2006, Zalameda was also conferred the Chevalier des Artes et Lettres medallion by the French government and the Presidential Medal of Merit by then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. (Hannah Valiente)