José Braulio Bedia Valdés (born January 13, 1959) is a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n painter currently residing in Florida.

Biography

Bedia was born on born January 13, 1959 in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro" Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro, is the oldest and most prestigious fine arts school in Cuba. It is also known as Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro", Academia San Alejandro, or San Alejandro Academy. The school is lo ...

and then finished his art studies at the

Instituto Superior de Arte The University of Arts of Cuba / Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) was established on 1 September 1976, by the Cuban government as a school for the arts. Its original structure had three schools: Music, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts. History T ...

in Havana. He escaped Cuba in 1990, settling initially in Mexico and subsequently, in 1993, in the United States.

Individual exhibitions (selection)

*1989 – ''Final del Centauro'' –

Castillo de la Real Fuerza The Castillo de la Real Fuerza (Castle of the Royal Force) is a bastion fort on the western side of the harbour in Havana, Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), ...

, Havana, Cuba. *1992 – ''"Jose Bedia: De Donde Vengo (Where I Come From)"'' – Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California. *1994 – ''José Bedia: De Donde Vengo'' – Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. *2004 – ''Estremecimientos'' – Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporaneo (MEIAC), Badajoz, Spain. *September 18, 2011 – January 8, 2012 – ''Transcultural Pilgrim: Three Decades of Work by José Bedia'' – Fowler Museum, UCLA.

Collective exhibitions (selection)

In 1978 he began participating with other artists in several collective exhibitions. In 1980 he conformed the exhibition ''XIX Premi Internacional de Dibuix

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...

''. Fundació Joan Miró, Centre d'Estudis d'Art Contemporani, Parc de Montjuic,

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain; ''Los novísimos cubanos. Grupo Volumen I'' was a significant exhibition that took place at The Signs Gallery, New York. He was selected to participate in the Cubans exhibition in the 1st and 2nd Havana Biennial Bienal de La Habana, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. In 1990 he was in the XLIV Exposizione Internazionale d’Arte, Biennale di Venezia,

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In 1994, his work was exhibited at "InSite94: A Binational Exhibition of Installation and Site Specific Art" San Diego Train Station, San Diego, California. In 2001 his work was part of ''Inside and Out, Contemporary Sculpture, Video and Installations'', Bass Museum of Art, IV Bienal del Caribe y Centroamérica, Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In 2013 Bedia participated in the collective exhibit ''Drapetomania: Exposicion Homenaje a Grupo Antillano'' in Santiago de Cuba. In 2019, José Bedia's work was included in the group show ''The Gift of Art'', at

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

. The exhibition highlighted important artworks within PAMM's permanent collection on

Latinx ''Latinx'' is an English neologism used to refer to people with Latin American cultural or ethnic identity in the United States. The term aims to be a gender-neutral alternative to ''Latino'' and ''Latina'' by replacing the masculine and fem ...

and

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

artists. Among the artists featured in the exhibition were

Carmen Herrera Carmen Herrera (May 31, 1915 – February 12, 2022) was a Cuban-born American Abstract art, abstract, minimalist visual artist and painter. She was born in Havana and lived in New York City from the mid-1950s. Herrera's abstract works brought he ...

(Cuba),

Teresa Margolles Teresa Margolles (born 1963 in Culiacán) is a Mexican conceptual artist, photographer, videographer, and performance artist. As an artist she researches the social causes and consequences of death.Prince Claus Fund (June 2012''Report from the 20 ...

(Mexico),

Roberto Matta Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (; November 11, 1911 – November 23, 2002), usually known simply as Matta, also as Sebastián Matta or Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known Painting, painters and a seminal figure in 20th ...

(Chile),

Oscar Murillo Oscar Murillo (born 1986) is a Colombian artist working within the painting tradition. He currently lives and works in various locations. Curator and writer Legacy Russell has said that the artist explores "the body in transit", while curator H ...

(Colombia),

Amelia Peláez Amelia Peláez del Casal (January 5, 1896 – April 8, 1968) was an important Cubans, Cuban painter of the Avant-garde generation. Biography Amelia Peláez (born-1896) Yaguajay, Cuba, in the former Cuban province of Las Villas (now Sancti Spír ...

(Cuba), Zilia Sánchez (Cuba), Tunga (Brazil) and

Wifredo Lam Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla (; December 8, 1902 – September 11, 1982), better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban spirit and culture. Inspired by ...

(Cuba).

Awards

He has obtained several awards for his artistic work: * 1982 – First Prize in the ''"Salón Paisaje ’82"'',

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana The National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana (Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana) in Havana, Cuba is a museum of fine arts that exhibits Cuban art collections from the colonial times up to contemporary generations. History It was founded o ...

, Havana, Cuba. * 1993 – International Guggenheim Fellowship,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. * 1988 – Distinction for the National Culture, Cuban Council of State, Havana, Cuba.

Public collections (selection)

His pieces can be found in the permanent collections of: * George Adams Gallery,

* Arkansas Art Center,

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. Its collection includes more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing various cultures, including Asian, European, United States, Amer ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

Cantor Arts Center Cantor Arts Center (officially Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, previously the Stanford University Museum of Art) is an art museum on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California, United State ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

* Galería Nina Menocal in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, Hawaii * Loeb Art Center,

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Town of Poughkeepsie, New York (state), New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie i ...

* Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst,

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

, Germany *

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

* Porin Taidemuseo,

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

* Centro Wifredo Lam,

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana The National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana (Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana) in Havana, Cuba is a museum of fine arts that exhibits Cuban art collections from the colonial times up to contemporary generations. History It was founded o ...

, Havana * NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida *de la Cruz Collection, Florida *

Kendall Art Center The Kendall Art Center is an arts center in Kendall, Miami-Dade County, Florida in the United States. It houses the Rodriguez Collection, owned by the Cuban-born American businessman Leonardo Rodríguez and his family. History The center was ...

, Miami, Florida *

Frost Art Museum The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum'' (''"Frost Art Museum") is an art museum located in the Modesto A. Maidique campus of Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1977 as The Art Museum at Florida Internat ...

, Miami, Florida *The von Christierson Collection,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

*Farber Collection, Florida

Bibliography

* Jose Bedia Works 1978-2006, Turner, 2007. * Jose Bedia: Transcultural Pilgrim, Bettelheim and Berlo, 2012. * José Bedia: Estremecimientos, Omar-Pascual Castillo, 2004. *Jose Viegas; ''Memoria: Artes Visuales Cubanas Del Siglo Xx''; (California International Arts 2004); .

References

External links

Oral history interview with José Bedia, 1998, February 13
from the Smithsonian

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

Transcultural Pilgrim: Three Decades of Work by José Bedia
at the Fowler Museum, UCLA
josebedia.com
(Personal Website of Jose Bedia) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedia Valdes, Jose Braulio Living people 1959 births Artists from Havana Cuban contemporary artists Cuban male painters Instituto Superior de Arte alumni Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro alumni