José Bedia

(Cuban, born 1959)

José Bedia is a contemporary Cuban painter known for his Neo-Primitivistic figurative style. Bedia’s 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. In one of his best-known paintings, Figure Who Defines His Own Horizion Line (2011), the line of sight emerges from a colossal head and breaks at the wilting drapes of a flag. He was born on January 13, 1959 in Havana, Cuba and studied at the city’s Instituto Superior del Arte. 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.