JOSE BEDIA
José Bedia
b. Havana, Cuba, 1959; resides in Miami, Florida, United States
Más de lo mismo y uno de necio (More of the Same, and One Being Foolish)
2000
Ink, Conté crayon, white chalk and pastel on amate paper
José Bedia, a living master draftsman and installation artist, left Cuba in the early 1990s for Mexico and later relocated to Miami. His work is a singular synthesis of the artistic traditions of Africa and the indigenous Americas.
Influences on Bedia’s work include his extensive study of Afro-Transatlantic cultures and the beliefs of La Regla Conga (into which he was initiated), La Regla de Ocha, the Leopard Society of Abakuás and other faiths.
Más de lo mismo y uno de necio (More of the Same, and One Being Foolish) is drawn on traditional amate paper (made by the Otomí People of Mexico). A small Afro-Cuban Elegguá (an orisha or god of the Yoruba religion responsible for opening and closing paths) and a large figure with donkey ears holding a remote control are seen reacting to the banality of what appears on the television screen. The work is a critique of the media and the political control and manipulation of information.
*This piece was included in the exhibition section titled "The Prophet's Dream"
José Bedia
b. Havana, Cuba, 1959; resides in Miami, Florida, United States
Lango va a correr (La Lluvia o Agua va a correr) (Lango is Going to Run (Rain or Water Will Fall Down))
1995
Charcoal, watercolor, and india ink on heavy paper
José Bedia is considered a living master and is one of the premier figures of the seminal 1980's generation of the so named New Cuban Art. Bedia left Cuba in the early 1990s for Mexico and later relocated to Miami. His work is a singular synthesis of the artistic traditions of Africa and the indigenous Americas.
Lango va a correr (La Lluvia o Agua va a correr) (Lango is Going to Run) (Rain or Water Will Fall Down) is part of a series referencing the Kongo and Afro-Cuban nkisis―spirits or objects inhabited by spirits. The artist collages photographs of nkisis from the colonial period―when these culturally significant objects were acquired by European collectors―with direct mark-making using his hands in lieu of art tools to draw the image. The falling rain alludes to the supernatural power of these magic-auspicious artifacts.
*This piece was included in the exhibition section titled "The Spirit of the Real, the Reality of the Spirit"
