1959 Born in La Habana, Cuba
1979 Attended the Academia de Artes Plasticas "San Alejandro" in La Habana
1981 Studied in the Instituto Superior de Arte in La Habana
1993 Established in Miami

"CRONICAS AMERICANAS"

Jose Bedia’s works try to address his country’s situation and spirituality. In doing so, he uses Kikongo (a language originally spoken in the South of Zaire and the North of Angola in Africa which came to Cuba as a result of the slave trade) as his medium. In Cuba Kikongo was mixed with Spanish and is used only for religious purposes.

All his paintings are related to his installation: "The Guardian Angel’s Table", in a direct or indirect way. The table, the chair and the wheel are a "bricollage" which can be at the same time a children’s toy, a car or a religious object. This object as a whole pulls the guardian angel forwards to get rid of the bad spirits through the water. The flowers are offered to the American Indian, a figure worshiped by ñsome Cubans. The colors attached to the chair represent the seven spiritual powers of Cuba. Each embodies an Afro-Cuban God and a Catholic figure, a virgin or a saint.

The "Revelation of the Joker’s Spirit" is a more a personal theme for Bedia. The student painted in color is a sort of genius. He is different from the others and for this reason not understood. He is however helped by his guardian angel to answer the teacher’s question. In addition, the painting has a direct relationship to the installation.

The photographs in Bedia’s paintings have a indirect relationship with the image.

In the painting the "Prostitute Women from the Havana," the photograph (which was probably taken in Africa during the last century) alludes to Cuba’s circumstances during the Spanish conquest and is also relevant to the present situation. The white conquerors and the local population are subjected to their rule.

"The Armed Island" represents Cuba. The island looks like a man getting out of the sea. Arms in Cuba are supposedly used for protection from foreign imperialism. In reality they are used against themselves. In the sea there are sharks and a boat sinking suggesting there is no way out.

In "The Same Route?" the bird-like airplane and a whale-submarine represents the American Indian waterbird and the Afro-Cuban God of war and black smiths. It is in this painting Bedia asks himself if both spiritual figures lead to the same place, although they have different paths.

"American Chronicles" is the name of my very first exhibition that took place while I was still in Cuba. These were titled American Chronicles I, II, III, IV, etc..., I even lost track of numbers and I would not know which number corresponds to the present one. These exhibits consist of mostly drawings in which I played the role of an old chronicler of the American Indies, but on my own fashion. As chronicles, most of all, I find there is history as well as reference to the past. There are also texts and old pictures, mostly with an anthropological meaning. These may either general or particularly related to both, America or Cuba, my homeland. History, Anthropology, Colonialism, Religion (native religion or afro Cuban religion), transculturation, acculturation, imposition, etc. Thereby, the conjunction of these elements result in something close to a personal old manuscript to which I constantly add new pages. Synthesizing, I could say this is an obsession with the past, which holds an answer to what is exactly going on at present times.

Jose Bedia

1997 Cronicas Americanas. Monterrey Museum of Contemporary Art (MARCO)La isla, el cazador y la presa. Sites, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1995 Mundele quiere saber. Frederic Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida
1994 Frederic Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida
1994 Frumkin/Adams Gallery, New York
1993 Bestiario. Fernando Quintana Gallery, Bogota
1993 El viaje de Bedia y Caplan a Suecia. Kulturhuset, Stockholm
1993 La isla en peso. Nino Menocal Gallery, Mexico DF
1992 Brevisima relacion de la destruccion de las Indias. Museum of Contemporary Art Carrillo Gil, Mexico DF
1992 El hombre de hierro. Curare Gallery, Mexico DF
1992 Frumkin/Adams Gallery, New York
1991 Drawings. Frumkin/Adams Gallery, New York
1991 Sueno Circular. Cultural Center Ninart, Mexico DF and Ramis Barquet Gallery, Monterey
1990 Recent Work. Forest City Gallery, London

1995 Heroes and Heroines. New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, Summit, New Jersey
1995 Porter Randall Gallery, La Jolla, California
1994 Sao Paulo Bienal
1994 Thomas Cohn Gallery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1993 Cartographics. Winnipeg, Canada (Itinerant Exhibition)
1993 Cuban Artists of the twentieth century. Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
1992 Al encuentro de los otros. Universitat aus Kassel, Germany
1992 America novia del sol. Museum voor Scone-Kunsten, Antwerp, Belgium
1992 Ante America. Luis Angel Arango Library, Casa Luis Lopez Mesa, Bogota
1992 Jose Bedia, Arturo Cuenca, Italo Scanga. Porter Randall Gallery, La Jolla, California
1992 Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century. Organised by the Museum of Modern Art, New York; itinerant exhibition: Seville, Paris, Cologne, New York
1992 Turning the Map: Images of the Americas. Camerawork, London
1991 The Bleeding Heart. Organised by the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts; itinerant exhibition: Boston, Houston, Philadelphia, Saskatoon, New Port Beach, Caracas, Monterrey
1991 Los hijos de Guillermo Tell. Alejandro Otero Museum and Bank of Colombia, Bogota
1991 Mito y magia en America: Los ochenta. Monterrey Museum of Contemporary Art (MARCO)
1990 Among Africas/In Americas. Walter Philip Gallery, Banf, Canada
1990 Arte Contemporaneo de Cuba. Museum of Contemporary Art, Sevilla
1990 Kuba OK. Kunthalle, Dusseldorf
1990 No Man is an Island. Porin Tidemuseo, Finlandia
1990 XLIV Venezia Biennale. Venice
1989 Contemporary Art from Havana. Riverside Studios, London and Museum of Contemporary Art, Sevilla
1989 Magicians de la Terre. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1989 Third Havana Bienal
1989 Viviendo al borde del rio. National Museum of Fine Arts, Castillo de la Fuerza, La Habana
1988 Arte por Africa. UNESCO-FAI, Paris
1987 19th International Bienal of Sao Paulo
1987 Tres visiones del Heroe. National Museum of Fine Arts, Castillo de la Fuerza, La Habana

Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock
Centro Cultural Art Contemporaneo, Mexico DF
Ludwig Forum Fur Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany
Monterrey Museum of Contemporary Art (MARCO)
Fine Arts Museum, Caracas
National Museum of Fine Arts, La Habana
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Norton Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida
Perseus Collection, Honolulu, Hawaii
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
Phoenix Art Museum
Porin Taidemuseum, Finland
San Diego Museum of Art