Provenance: Private Collection, USA

ABOUT THE WORK

In this floral still life, we find subtlety in the shifting viewpoints, tilting of axes, and dislocation of objects. Probably, Malang wanted to take the other objects as mere abstract shapes so that the main object or leitmotif, the flowers in a vase, will remain the focus of attention. The overall effect is a flattened one. Light seems to permeate the scene from all sides casting no shadows: the palette is much lighter and Malang has created a more tell-tale effect with his manner of depicting the details of the flower. There are stabilizing horizontal lines to contrast with the densely complex vertical form of the standing vase. The emphasis Malang places on outlines is interesting. He has worked interestingly on the delineations between objects. The instinct for color did not rely solely on Malang’s background in the print media, he was also tutored by another self taught painter from Santa Cruz, Manila, Hernando R. Ocampo, who in 1991 posthumously received a National Artist Award and was identified with the Neo-realists. When they first met, Ocampo was Malang’s editor at This Week magazine. In the fifties, most artists took day jobs to supplement salaried work. On one of those twice weekly graveyard shifts for the magazine, Ocampo became somewhat of a mentor by encouraging the young Malang to try his hand at painting. Soon after, Malang would experiment on tonal qualities of colors.