Est. 2014
José Bedia is a contemporary Cuban painter known for his Neo-Primitivistic figurative style. He was born on January 13, 1959, in La Havana, Cuba. From an early age he excelled in drawing, comics and illustration, and as a teenager he joined the famous San Alejandro Academy. He went on to graduate with honors from the Instituto Superior de Arte de la Habana, Cuba. Bedia was a pioneer of the radical transformation of Cuban Art.
His large-scale paintings are inspired by his Santería faith, an amalgamation of Yoruba, indigenous, and Christian beliefs, with his works frequently depicting mythical elements, altars, and other sacramental imagery, often serving as a pointed critique of colonialism. Bedia participated in the first Havana Biennial in 1984, and later was selected to represent Cuba at the Venice Biennale in 1990. Two years later, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in New York.
The artist has shown work all over the world, notably including a solo show at the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles as well as in the collections of the Museo Nacional Palacio de Bellas Artes (La Habana), MoMa , the 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. The artist currently resides in Miami, Florida.