Jose Bedia

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Biographies

José Bedia was born in La Havana, Cuba and graduated with honors from the ISA , Instituto Superior de Arte de la Habana, Cuba. He was a pioneer of the radical transformation of Cuban Art that inaugurated the Exhibition Volume 1, which Bedia was integral part of it. His passion for the primal Amerindians complemented his anthropological studies on Afro-Transatlantic cultures, studying in depth the faith, believes and religion of the “La Regla Kongo” (in which he was initiated in 1983), the “ Regla de Ocha”, and the Leopard Society of Abakuas, among many others.

He traveled to Angola as part of the International Cultural Brigades who supported the struggle of the Angolan-Cuban War against Namibia and South Africa. This contact with the mother continent and the war increased his interest about the African roots of American culture. This interest took him to visit countries such as Peru, Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Rep., Puerto Rico, Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, and Tanzania. After residing in Mexico he moved to Miami Florida, where he currently lives and works.

This vast knowledge has marked his work and shows how this cultural heritage has influenced our actual daily lives. Thanks to this solid work, characterized by the mix of “storytelling” that he calls informative lessons about the cosmogonic Universes of the ancestral cultures and the influence in popular cultures, his work has been exhibited in La Habana, Sao Paulo, Venice and Beijing Biennales, where he has received awards and acclamation positioning him as one of the most notorious and prestigious creators of art from the second half of the 21st century to the present.

Education
1983 – BFA from ISA , Instituto Superior de Arte de la Habana, Cuba

Selected One-Person Exhibitions
2019 – Trazos de Una Cancion, Galeria Artizar, Tenerife, Spain.
2018 – “Visual Miami: Jose Bedia Watering Past Ground” Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami, FL; “A Contracorriente” Collection Suites, Miami, FL; “Mujer Natura” Art Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, FL.
2017 – “Fieldwork: Selections from the De La Cruz Collection and the Artist” North Eastern University Museum, Ft Lauderdale, FL; “Memoria y Creenclas Culturale” Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA.
2016 – “On the Frontier: The Art of Jose Bedia” El Museo cultural de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM; Frederic Boloix Fine Arts Gallery, Ketchum, ID; “Tribal Affinities” Colegio Civil Centro Cultural Universitario, Monterrey, Mexico; “Isla, Monte, Animal, Gente” Galeria Antizar, Tenerife, Spain.
2015 – “Somalian Prey” Museo San Telmo, San Sebastian, Spain.

Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 – “Crossing Borders: Artists from the Middle East & Latin America” Kendall Art Center in collaboration with Khawam Gallery, Miami, FL
2021 – “The New Age of Bronze” Fredric Snitzer gallery, Miami, FL
2018 – “Espado Vivo” Lyle O’Reitzel Gallery, Santo Domingo Dominican Republic; “Art Miami Context” Tambaran Gallery, NY/Miami, FL; “Dibujos con Tukula” Casa Alpes, Galeria Nina Menocal, Mexico, DF.
2017 – “Back to Black: No On/Off Ramps” Art Africa 7^th Edition, Miami, FL; “Visionary Aponte: Art & Black Freedom” Little Haiti Cultural Complex, Miami, FL; “Of / By / For” The American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, Miami, FL; “Adios utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art since 1950” The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX; “Wild Noise / Ruido Salvaj” Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, NY; “On the Horison: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Jorge M. Perez Collection” Perez Art Museum Miami, FL.
2016 – “Drapetomania: Grupo Antillano and the Art of Afro-Cuba” The African American Museum, Philadelphia; Dusable Museum of African American History, Chicago; “Go Figure!” Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, Fl; “México Vibra, Apasiona” Zona Maco, Galeria Nina Menocal, Mexico City.
2015 – “Drapetomania: Grupo Antillano and the Art of Afro-Cuba” Etherlbert Cooper Gallery for African & African American Art,Harvard University, CT; “Cuba: Ficción y Fantasía” Casa Daros, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; “A Sense of Place: Selections from the Jorge M. Perez Collection”  Mana Contemporary, Miami, FL; “Migrantes” Galeria Nina Menocal, Mexico City; “Canvas” Canvas Art Charities” and Nicole Henry Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL.

Awards and Grants
José Bedia has been a recipient  of  many prestigious awards from United Sates and Latin America.

Collections
José Bedia’s work are in international museums, public and private collection including: Museo Nacional Palacio de Bellas Artes (La Habana),  MoMa ,Metropolitan Museum,  Whitney Museum of American Art (NYC), Guggenheim,  Tate Modern,  Smithsonian Museum (Washington), The Colección Daros (Zurich),  MEIAC, DA2, IVAM, CAAM (España),  MOCA, MAM and PAMM in Miami.

Selected Bibliography/Catalogue/Press
José Bedia: “Handbook” Philadelphia Museum of Art (2014); “Transcultural Pilgrim” Three Decades of work Bettelheim and Berlo Fowler Museum at UCLA (2012); “Obras Recientes 2002-2005” Museo de Arte Moderno (2006) “Works 1978-2006” Turner publishing (2007); “Al Menos una Señal (2005);