José Bedia: 1976 - 2026: A Five Decade Field Study

A comprehensive retrospective of Cuban artist José Bedia, exploring five decades of work rooted in tribal symbology, shamanism, and ethnographic fieldwork across global ancestral cultures. José Bedia: 1976 2026: A Five Decade Field Study is a rich exploration of the career and work of Cuban artist José Bedia. From being a formative member of the Volumen Uno Cuban art renaissance, Bedia's international outreach continually grew from the 1980's onward, reaching worldwide acclaim spanning from his participation in the monumental exhibit Magiciens de la Terre in 1989 to winning First Prize at the Beijing Biennale in 2010. His unique artistic craft focuses on organic elements, tribal symbology, and shamanism from diverse cultures. Bedia's work and artistic creations are deeply informed by living and past ancestral communities everywhere and his personal interactions with them, while simultaneously using a field work approach of an ethnographer or anthropologist to create his paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations. Anchored by his 5-decade retrospective at the MARCO Museum of Monterrey, and also accompanied by text from various art scholars, this book will look at his trajectory focusing on his different styles and periods throughout the years, as well as images from his personal travels, and tribal collection, that directly impact his artistic output. Text in English and French. AUTHOR: Omar-Pascual Castillo was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1971. Graduating in 1994, he moved to Spain in 1998, where he still lives and currently works as a freelance contemporary art curator and editor. He has published over two hundred critical texts in catalogues and journals, such as Atlántica, art.es, ArtNexus, Sublime Magazine and Dardo, as well as monographs with Ediciones Polígrafa (Barcelona) and Turner Libros (Madrid / Mexico). He has been artistic director at a number of venues, the latest being the Nova Invaliden Galerie in Berlin (2015 2017) and the 1st LPGC Contemporary Art Encounters, The Taken City (2021). SELLING POINTS: . This volume offers a definitive exploration of Bedia's trajectory over half a century, from his role as a founding member of the influential "Volumen Uno" movement in Cuba to his status as an internationally acclaimed master . The book highlights Bedia's distinctive methodology-merging art with ethnography and anthropology. It details how his personal interactions with living ancestral communities and his "field work" approach inform his paintings, sculptures, and installations . The narrative is anchored by Bedia's participation in landmark art history milestones, such as the monumental Magiciens de la Terre exhibit (1989) and his First Prize win at the Beijing Biennale (2010), cementing his importance in the global art canon . Beyond his artworks, the book provides rare access to Bedia's personal travel images and his private tribal collection. These are accompanied by expert analysis from various art scholars, providing a deep contextual understanding of the sources that drive his artistic output 245 colour illustrations