José Braulio Bedia Valdés (born January 13, 1959 in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

) is a

n painter currently residing in Florida. Bedia studied at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro" and then finished his art studies at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. He escaped Cuba in 1990, settling initially in Mexico and subsequently, in 1993, in the United States.

Selected individual exhibitions

*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, set back from the entrance, and bordering the Plaza de Armas. Originally built to defend against attack by pirates ...

, Havana, Cuba. *1992 – ''"Jose Bedia: De Donde Vengo (Where I Come From)"'' – Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA. *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

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 painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...

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

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern 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 ci ...

, 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 ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. 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 Grupo Antillano was a Cuban artistic group was formed by 16 artists, between 1975 and 1985, in Havana, Cuba. Members of the group * Rafael Queneditt Morales (Director). Sculpture and engraving * Esteban Guillermo Ayala Ferrer (1929–1995). Grap ...

'' in Santiago de 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 ...

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

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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

Collections

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

* Arkansas Art Center,

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

* Birmingham Museum of Art,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

* Cantor Arts Center,

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

* Galería Nina Menocal in México * Honolulu Museum of Art,

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

* 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, closely follo ...

, Poughkeepsie,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

* Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst,

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

* Perez Art Museum Miami,

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

* Porin Taidemuseo,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

* Centro Wifredo Lam,

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

* NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale,

*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, 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

*Farber Collection, Florida

Bibliography

* Jose Bedia Works 19778-2006, 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 Washingt ...

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 painters Instituto Superior de Arte alumni Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro alumni