José Bedia

José Bedia (Havana, 1959) is one of the irreplaceable names of the historiography of contemporary Cuban art. His work, born in the enlightened 80’s of our Island, has managed to remain until present-days as one of the best conceptual and formal referents within the national production. His anthropological vocation has moved him to dabble in subjects of profound religious roots from a completely human, experiential, sensitive perspective. Since his graduation from the Superior Institute of Arts (ISA) in 1981, the artist deals with different art forms with the same temperance, although there is a primary interest in drawings, paintings, installations and sculptures that make possible to give birth to an idea, a past of ethnographic character which is updated in his creation, and highlights the history of the American continent, or his own. Numerous are the awards that support his work, which is recorded in the lists of important collections inside and outside the limits of the Island.

 

EDUCATION

  • 1976 – 1981   Superior Institute of Art (ISA), Havana
  • 1972 – 1976   San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts, Havana

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2012

  • Transcultural Pilgrim: Three Decades of Work by José Bedia, Miami Art Museum (MAM), Miami

2011

  • Transcultural Pilgrim: Three Decades of Work by José Bedia, The Fowler Museum (UCLA), California

2010

  • Como empezó todo?, Puerto Rico Art Museum, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Fragments of Journeys, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans
  • Analogía mística, Sandunga Gallery, Granada, Spain

2008

  • Status Quo, Constantini Contemporary Art Center, Milan
  • Art Now!, MIART, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Milan
  • José Bedia, Animal Gallery, Santiago de Chile
  • A mi aire, Enlace Contemporary Art Gallery, Buenos Aires
  • Makishi Nikishi, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • José Bedia Retrospective, The Fowler Museum (UCLA), California

2007

  • José Bedia: Firsthand, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • Art Basel Miami Beach, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • Im-Pulse, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Chelsea, New York
  • José Bedia: Paintings & Drawings 1992-2006, George Adams Gallery, New York
  • Imágenes primigenias, Enlace Contemporary Art Gallery, Lima, Peru
  • Obra reciente: pinturas y dibujos, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2006

  • José Bedia: The State of Things, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami

2005

  • José Bedia: Fieldworks, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • There, Around the Corner, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Chelsea, New York
  • Works on Paper, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Monterrey, Mexico

2004

  • José Bedia, Works from 1990-2004, Museum of Contemporary Art, Panama City
  • Estremecimientos, Extremadura and Latin American Contemporary Art Museum, Badajoz; Domus Atrium, Salamanca, Spain
  • El jaguar y la anaconda, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami

2003

  • Recent Work, Lucía de la Puente Gallery, Lima, Peru
  • Recoleta, Cultural Center, Buenos Aires
  • Último fruto de temporada, Iturralde Gallery, Los Angeles
  • You Had to Be There, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • Nsila –El camino: José Bedia and the Spirit’s Path in Congo Art, Cantor Art Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California
  • Narraciones incompletas, Nina Menocal Gallery, Mexico D. F.
  • What the Virgin Told Me, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Chelsea, New York; Cantor Art Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California
  • Nsila: The Way in Congo, Museum Stanford University, Stanford, California
  • You Had to Be There, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • José Bedia. Opere recenti, Alessandro Bagnai Gallery, Florence, Italy

2002

  • José Bedia, Gallagher Gallery, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
  • Fieldwork/José Bedia, Centre Gallery, Miami-Dade Community College, Miami
  • The Transportable Cultural Hero, Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, Missouri
  • A Selection of Works by José Bedia, Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, Missouri
  • Blanco espiritual, Granada Museum of Fine Arts, Carlos V Palace, Granada, Spain
  • Proverbs, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami

2001

  • Visionary Condition, Iturralde Gallery, Los Angeles
  • Works on Paper, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Chelsea, New York
  • Back in Africa, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • Elson Artist in Residence Project, Addison Gallery of Latin American Art, Andover

2000

  • FIAC, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Chelsea, New York
  • José Bedia: rodeado de mar, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia
  • Things We Need, George Adams Gallery, New York
  • Fragmentos de una historia, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami

1999

  • José Bedia, Nathalie Obadia Gallery, Paris; Ramis Barquet Gallery, Annina Nosei Gallery, Chelsea, New York; The Art Museum, Florida International University, Florida; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Fleisher Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia

1998

  • 20/21: José Bedia, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, USA
  • Objetos de trueque, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • 1st Bienal de Lima, Lima, Peru
  • Crónicas americanas, Rufino Tamayo Museum, Mexico D. F.
  • The Island, the Hunter and the Prey, Edwin Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita
  • My Essentialness, David Floria Gallery, Aspen
  • José Bedia, pintura reciente, OMR Gallery, Mexico D. F.

1997

  • Historia de animales, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • Objects and Installation, George Adams Gallery, New York
  • Crónicas americanas, Contemporary Art Museum (MARCO), Monterrey, Mexico
  • José Bedia: The Island, the Hunter and the Prey, Santa Fe, Los Angeles
  • José Bedia, Der Brucke Art International Gallery, Buenos Aires

1996

  • Mi esencialismo, Hyde Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin; Pori Museum, Pori, Finland; George Adams Gallery, New York
  • New Drawings, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami; Pori Museum, Pori, Finland; George Adams Gallery, New York

1995

  • Round Things, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Mundele quiere saber, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables; Terrace Gallery, Orlando, Florida

1994

  • Donde vengo, Pennsylvania University, Pennsylvania; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California
  • Casi todo lo que es mío, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida
  • InSITE94: A Bi-National Exhibition of Installation and Site Specific Art, San Diego, California
  • Train Station, Frumkin/Adams Galleries, New York
  • Sao Paulo Biennial (Installation), Brazil

1993

  • La isla en peso, Nina Menocal Gallery, Mexico D. F.
  • Fábula, Fernando Quintana Gallery, Bogotá

1992

  • Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias, Carrillo Gil Contemporary Art Museum, Mexico D. F.; Frumkin/Adams Galleries, New York
  • El hombre de hierro, Curare Gallery, Mexico D. F.; Frumkin/Adams Galleries, New York

1991

  • Los presagios, Collateral to the 4th Havana Biennial, Havana

1990

  • Sueño circular, Ninart Cultural Center and Ramis Barquet Gallery, Mexico D. F.

1989

  • Viviendo al borde del río, Castillo de la Fuerza, Havana; Ángel Romero Gallery, Madrid
  • Final del centauro, Castillo de la Fuerza, Havana

1987

  • Tres visiones del héroe, Castillo de la Fuerza, Havana

1986

  • Crónicas americanas III, Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, Havana

1984

  • Persistencia del uso, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana

1982

  • Crónicas americanas II, Culture House of Plaza, Havana

1980

  • Crónicas americanas I, Culture House of Plaza, Havana

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011

  • Merzbau-Now, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami

2010

  • 9th Beijing Biennial, Beijing
  • Somalian Prey (God is Good), Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • Entre dos mundos. Retrospective, Valencian Institute of Modern Art (IVAM), Valencia, Spain
  • Without Mask (The von Christierson Collection), Johanesgurg Art Gallery (JAG), Johanesgurg
  • Scope New York 2010, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, New York
  • ARTMIAMI, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Miami

2009

  • Resistance and Freedom: Wifredo Lam, Raúl Martínez y José Bedia, Collateral to the 10th Havana Biennial, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
  • NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith, Miami Art Museum (MAM), Miami
  • Pivot Points, The Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Miami
  • ARTEAMERICAS, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami
  • PINTA, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, New York
  • Ritual of Passage during Art Basel Miami Beach, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Wynwood Art District, Miami
  • American Story, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Wisconsin
  • Latin American Painting Now, Naples Museum of Art, Florida

2008

  • PINTA, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, New York
  • Giants of the City, Art Basel Miami Beach, Bayfront Park, Miami
  • Dominican Power & Solid Friends, Art Basel Miami Beach, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Wynwood Art District, Miami
  • arteBA, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Buenos Aires
  • ARTEAMERICAS, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Miami
  • CIRCA’08, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Cuba! Artists Experience Their Country, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, New Jersey
  • Surrounded by Water: Expressions of Freedom and Isolation in Contemporary Cuban Art, Boston University Art Gallery, Boston

2007

  • PINTA, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York
  • El triunfo de la locura (12th anniversary), Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

2006

  • José Bedia: obras recientes 2002-2005, Modern Art Museum and Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • ARTMIAMI, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami
  • Art Basel Miami Beach, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Nina Menocal Gallery, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • ARCO’06, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Madrid
  • ARTEAMERICAS, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Coconut Grove, Florida

2005

  • AAF, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, New York
  • Arte, Religione, Politica, PAC, Milan
  • ARCO’05, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Madrid
  • ARTEAMERICAS, Rio de Janeiro
  • Contra corriente: 10 años, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

2004

  • ARCO’04, Ramis Barquet Gallery, Nina Menocal Gallery, Madrid
  • Armory Show, Nina Menocal Gallery, New York
  • Monstruos, monstricos y… aspirantes, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • Kongo Kingdom Art: From Ritual to Cutting Edge, Canton, Shanghai, Beijing, Peking, Taipei, Taiwan
  • Érase una vez en México, Mexico Institute, Miami

2003

  • Onda expansiva, Collateral to the 6th Caribbean Biennial, Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • 10 Floridians, Miami Art Center, Miami
  • Draw! Draw! Draw!, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami
  • Stranger in the Village, The Museum of Modern Art, East Hampton, New York
  • Dream Spaces, Deutsche Gallery, New York
  • Drawing Conclusions, Buena Vista Building, Miami

2002

  • Reality and Figuration. The Contemporary Latin American Presence, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida
  • The First Encounter of Latin-America and South Florida Art at Seravezza, Medici Palace, Florence, Italy

2001

  • Face of the Gods, Florida International University Art Museum, Florida

2000

  • Contemporary Narratives in American Prints, Whitney Museum of Art, Champion, New York

1999

  • Phantoms: Tsibi Geva and José Bedia, Art Focus 3, Jerusalem
  • Animal, Anima, Animus, Long Island City, New York
  • Today and Everyday, Ramis Barquet Gallery, New York

1998

  • Loin de Cuba, Tapestries Museum, France
  • Animal, Anima, Animus, Museum of Modern Art, Holland
  • 1ra Bienal International de Arte de Cumana, Cumana Contemporary Art Museum, Venezuela

1997

  • Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, New York
  • Breaking Barriers, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Caballos: Political Animals, George Adams Gallery, New York
  • Contemporary Art from Miami, Allen Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin
  • Mixing Business with Pleasure, Sawhill Gallery, James Madison University, Harrisburg
  • Caribbean Visions: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Fine Arts Center, Miami; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans

1996

  • 1996 Art Collectors Show, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock
  • Dream Collection Gifts, Miami Art Museum (MAM), Miami
  • Going Places, George Adams Gallery, New York
  • Sin fronteras/Arte latinomericano actual, Alejandro Otero Museum, Caracas
  • Cuba siglo XX: modernidad y sincretismo, Atlantic Modern Art Center, Las Palmas, Canary Islands; La Caixa Foundation, Palm of Majorca; Santa Monica Art Center, Barcelona
  • New Art on Paper 2, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
  • Cuba: la isla posible, Contemporary Cultural Center of Barcelona, Barcelona

1995

  • José Bedia, Carlos Capelan, Saint Clair Cemin, Porter Randall Gallery, La Jolla, California
  • Paper View, Cohen Berkowitz Gallery, Kansas

1994

  • Common: Luis Cruz Azaceta, José Bedia, Sandy Winters, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida
  • Points of Interest/Points of Departure, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
  • Paper Vision V (Biennial exhibition of works on paper by 30 contemporary Latin American artists), Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport
  • Heroes and Heroines: From Myth to Reality, New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, New Jersey

1993

  • Cartografías, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
  • Cuban Artists of the 20th Century, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Face of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas, The Museum of African Art, New York

1992

  • Personal Choice: Selections from Alumni Collections, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
  • Azaceta, Bedia, Roche, Frumkin/Adams Galleries, New York
  • Lesa Natura, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico D. F.
  • El viaje de Bedia y Capelan en Suecia, Kulturhuset, Stockholm
  • Contemporary Latin American Drawings, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock
  • Cuban Artists of the 20th Century, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Latin American Artists of the 20th Century, New York; Arms Square Station, Seville; Arts Hotel, Paris; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
  • Ante America, Boston and Luis Ángel Arango Library, Bogotá; Museum of Fine Arts, Caracas; Queens Museum, New York; Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence
  • Ámerica novia del sol, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium
  • Migration: Latin American Art and the Modernist Imagination, Museum of Art, Providence
  • Recent Acquisitions, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock
  • Arte cubano actual, Contemporary Art Cultural Center, Mexico D. F.
  • José Bedia, Arturo Cuenca, Italo Scanga, Porter Randall Gallery, La Jolla, California
  • Al encuentro de los otros, Kassel University, Kassel
  • El corazón sangrante, Houston Contemporary Art Museum, Houston; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatchewan, Canada; Caracas Museum of Fine Arts, Caracas; Contemporary Art Museum (MARCO), Monterrey, Mexico

1991

  • Los cubanos llegaron ya, Ninart Cultural Center, Mexico D. F.
  • Los hijos de Guillermo Tell, Alejandro Otero Museum of Visual Arts, Caracas; Bank of Colombia Republic, Bogotá
  • Mito y magia en América: los ochenta, Nuevo León, Mexico
  • Renacimiento cubano, Art Foundation, Amsterdam
  • 15 artistas cubanos, Ninart Cultural Center, Mexico D. F.

1990

  • Among Africas, Walter Philip Gallery, Canada
  • Arte contemporáneo de Cuba, Seville Contemporary Art Museum, Spain
  • Kuba O.K., Stadtlische Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf
  • No Man is an Island, Pori Museum, Pori, Finland
  • 24th Venice Bienale, Venice

1989

  • Contemporary Art from Cuba, Riverside Studios, London; Contemporary Art Museum, Seville, Spain
  • Magiciens de la Terre, Georges Pompidou Art Center, Paris
  • Trajectoire Cubaine, Contemporary Art Center, Corbeil-Essonnes, France
  • Final del centauro, 3rd Havana Biennial, Havana

1988

  • Raíces en acción, Carrillo Gil Contemporary Art Museum, Mexico D. F.
  • Signs of Transition: 80’s Art of Cuba, Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art (MoCHA), New York

1987

  • Art of the Fantastic: Latin American Art, 1929 (Organized by the Indianapolis Art Museum), Queens Museum, New York
  • Cuenca Biennial, Ecuador
  • Sao Palo Biennial, Sao Paulo
  • Made in Havana, Art Gallery of South Wales, Sydney

1986

  • Ejes constantes/Raíces culturales, Alternativa Gallery
  • Exposición de dibujo, Ángel Romero Gallery, Madrid
  • El arte de la sonrisa, Milan, Venice, Turin, Genoa
  • 2nd Havana Biennial, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
  • 10th International Exhibition of Drawing, Modema Gallery, Rijeka, Yugoslavia

1985

  • New Art from Cuba, Amelie Wallace Gallery, Westbury, New York

1984

  • 1st Havana Biennial, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
  • Intergrafix, Berlin
  • XX pintores cubanos, Stuttgart Gallery, Paris

1983

  • Encuentro de jóvenes artistas latinoamericanos, Casa de las Américas, Havana
  • Pintura joven cubana, Toronto University Art Gallery, Canada
  • Los novísimos cubanos, Signs Gallery, New York
  • Cuba Grafik, Husets Gallery, Sweden
  • First Look: Ten Young Artists from Today’s Cuba, Westbeth Artists Community, New York
  • Kubaska Teckuare, Latin American Art Gallery, Stockholm
  • Posters, Drawings, Graphics from Cuba, Llit Kala Gallery, New Delhi

1981

  • Volumen I, International Art Gallery, Havana
  • Gráfica joven, Bogotá
  • Landschaftsmalerei aus Cuba, Kunsthalle Rostock, Germany

1979

  • VIII Salón Nacional Juvenil de Artes Plásticas, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana

 

AWARDS

2010

  • 1st Prize of Excellence in Painting, 9th Beijing Biennial, Beijing

2003

  • Best Local Artist, Miami New Times

1997

  • Oscar B. Cintas Foundation Fellowship

1994

  • John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, New York

1986

  • Second Prize, 2nd Havana Biennial, Havana

1984

  • Grand Prize, Landscape Salon, Havana
  • Award, Joan Miró Foundation, Barcelona

 

COLLECTIONS

  • The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
  • Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama
  • Contemporary Cultural Center, Mexico D. F.
  • Contemporary Art Museum, San Diego, California
  • Extremadura and Latin-American Museum of Contemporary Art of Badajoz, Badajoz, Spain
  • Contemporary Art Museum (MARCO), Monterrey, Mexico
  • Miami Art Museum (MAM), Miami
  • Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge
  • Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
  • Museum of Fine Arts, Caracas
  • National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
  • Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami
  • Norton Museum of Art, Florida
  • Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
  • Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida
  • Spencer Museum, Lawrence
  • Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
  • Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix
  • Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock
  • Bacardi Art Foundation, Miami
  • Goldman Sachs Collection, New York
  • Minvielle Lyceum, Lagos, Mexico
  • Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York
  • Ludwig Forum of International Art, Germany
  • Lyle O. Reitzel Gallery, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • McCormick Place Art Collection, Chicago
  • Neuberger and Berman Collection, New York
  • Perseus Collection, Honolulu
  • Museum of Pori, Pori, Finland
  • Tate Modern, London
  • Walter Phillips Gallery, Canada