General Info
Nickname: Zaplaflora
Country: United States
Bio: My name is Jesús Torres Alfonso. My artistic name is Zaplaflora. I was born in Cuba in 1960. Since I was a child, I developed my vocation to create art, inspired by the beauty of Caribbean nature. Nature is still my main source of inspiration today, establishing a spiritual and surreal connection with it when I create art. In 1984, I graduated as an engineer in Cuba, and since then, I pride myself of using my professional knowledge of engineering in my fascinating world of artistic creation. In 1997, I emigrated to the United States, and since then I have lived and worked as an artist in Miami. In my works, you can feel the legacy of Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, and Manuel Mendive, among other greats of international painting, but I am proud to have reached a stage in my artistic career where my most unique and personalized style prevails, where I give free rein to spontaneity, freshness in designs and shapes, very attractive color contrasts, the thoughtful use of light and shadow spots, and the creation of images from different perspectives that appear to be in motion.
My art has captured the interest of the press in Miami, the most important being two extensive reports by El Nuevo Herald in 1998 and 2022. Verónica Egui Brito, journalist of El Nuevo Herald, wrote in November 2022: “Since arriving in Miami more than 25 years ago, Zaplaflora has evolved as an artist, with surrealist paintings of nature that are thought-provoking, spiritually…His works, mainly focused on painting with acrylic and metallic acrylic, are thought-provoking, and are both, expressive and sensual. Its bright colors and ornate patterns evoke emotions, while viewers are encouraged to decipher symbols and shapes”.
I have participated in countless international art exhibitions, both physical and virtual, including those sponsored by People and Paintings Gallery in New York; MundoArti in Spain; Aries, Galería de Arte in Venezuela; Art Ikonte in Mexico; and Ecira International Platform in Argentina. Among the physical ones, my participation in exhibitions sponsored by the Hialeah City Council is particularly noteworthy.
Special mention deserves my participation from October. 15th 2022 to February 5th 2023 in the 2022 Florida Biennial sponsored by “Art and Culture Center” in Hollywood. My original painting “Pollination in the Garden of Love” (2022) was exposed, after a curated selection process, among more than 1000 submitted paintings by more than 300 artists from all the state of Florida. Ylva Rouse, curator of Contemporary Art Museum (MOCA) in Jacksonville, Florida, and member of the Jury in the 2022 Florida Biennial, asked about Zaplaflora´s Art by the journal “El Nuevo Herald” in November 2022, explained: “I had the pleasure of selecting Zaplaflora's work for its colorful and enigmatic canvases, which are framed in Magical Realism, as a way to bring us closer to understanding our connection to nature and its inherent mysterious and ultimately existential quality…Zaplaflora's work is one of the ways in which today's artists attempt to express the need to redefine our relationship with nature, drawing a parallel with the internal components of life”.
I have had two virtual solo exhibitions: the most recent, "Zaplaflora´s Art: Reflections of an Artist", at People and Paintings Gallery in July 2024, where I exposed 20 paintings spanning a large part of my artistic career to the present day; the first, in 3D format, "Zaplaflora: With Ecological Flavor", with the Spanish gallery MundoArti from March to July 2022, where I presented a sample of 24 paintings.
I have received important international art awards. Mentioning them all would make this brief biography too long. However, I would like to specifically mention, among the most recent ones, the Best Artist Award 2025 in March 2025 from the Indonesian Colors Shade Art International Community; Honor Mention in the international exhibition "Art Heroes" by Art Ikonte in Mexico in February 2025; the Popular Vote Awards at the People and Paintings Gallery Juried Exhibitions in September and October 2024; and the Curator´s Award at the People and Paintings Gallery Juried Exhibition “Dream and Reality” in March 2024.
It is worth highlighting my work as Curator for the 34th New York People and Paintings Gallery Virtual International Juried Exhibition in March 2025. The Gallery wrote the following review about my curatorial work: "It was a great pleasure working with you. We are delighted to learn that you are not only a talented artist but also a skilled curator."
My works are currently on display in several physical art galleries in Miami and several other international virtual ones. Many of my paintings are also now part of private collections in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. A French Art collector, who purchased two of my paintings in 2022, sent me a letter: “Jesús, I have just received these two magnificent paintings that you have lovingly dedicated to our precious nature. It´s with emotions and heart filled with joy that I can contemplate these masterpieces that are of breathtaking beauty. You have imbued yourself with such details, beautiful reliefs, colors and symbols; these paintings are full of magic and love. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for these sumptuous gifts”.
Self-Employed Artist
Artist, 1997 – to present
Education: Mechanical Engineer. Havana City University. July 1984
Statement: "Being able to feel what is invisible, and being able to create it, that´s Art"; that is the way the German painter Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) defined Art. And I pride myself on perceiving what is invisible to others, and on "creating" it in my pictorial works.
My paintings are the artistic expression of my purest creation and imagination. I don't reproduce images from books, magazines or catalogues. My designs and pictorial compositions are the most authentic and free expression of my feelings, emotions and instincts. Painting ignites my emotions, triggers my instincts and gives free rein to my imagination, to create an exclusive Art, with a very personal and easily identifying style.
I don't follow rules or specific painting schools. You might assume that I “break” the rules all the time. My work is the result of praxis, of permanent innovation and of my most empirical experience. I am encouraged by one of the best-known quotes from one of the greatest artists of all time, Pablo Picasso: "Learn the rules like a professional, so you can break them like an artist." I am not saying that I am a professional at all…I am just someone who loves to create Art, that studies a lot by his own, and that tries to improve himself everyday as an artist. Every single day I wake up with a creative project in mind, and with a strong willingness to transform it into Art.
Common traits of my works are spontaneity, freshness, spirituality, mysticism and magic. However, you could find in my paintings the influence of Salvador Dalí for instance, René Magritte and Pablo Picasso, as well as of the Cuban artists Manuel Mendive, Wifredo Lam, René Portocarrero and Amelia Peláez. You might “feel” their legacy in my artworks, but I have definitely achieved a persolalized style in my artistic career of more than 50 years.
My sources of inspiration? Common threads that keep my works interconnected? Nature is the greatest artist in my paintings. Natural beauties, Nature´s fertile abundance and generosity, that interactive relationship between Men and Nature, its flora and fauna…Man's permanent search for a psychological and emotional balance in Life, and the indispensable ecological balance in the Earth.
When painting, I establish a spiritual connection with Nature, my main source of inspiration. My artistic name, Zaplaflora, tells you about the essential role Nature and its flora play in my Art. You will find in my Artworks a rainfall of Nature colors and shapes in “perfect” harmony, but contrasting one with each other at the same time, together with the use of classic symbols. With your eyes on them, you will have the impression that those static images transmute into vibrant displays of perpetual motion; as if they, surprisingly, will come out from the canvas to stay by your side, with the magic power of inspiring, thought-provoking, healing wounded souls, and making you forget the grays of urban cities. Painting gives me many reasons to feel myself fully and spiritually rewarded in life.
What am I looking for with my paintings? What do I propose and what are my final motivations? My paintings are my key means of communication with the world. Above all, I want the public to enjoy the freedom of colors and shapes; the fresh use of classic symbols and other more innovative ones. And I want to communicate with that audience, to inspire them feelings, emotions; to unlock their instincts; to have an impact on their senses and on their consciousness; to convey concepts and life perceptions. In short, I want the viewers to feel the intensity of life while enjoying my Art.