José Bedia

Bedia bases his work on a critical and anthropological treatment of peoples and cultures, the majority with ancestral origins. Many of his works are based on Afro-Cuban traditions still alive in his country, but he also studies and works with cultures of Amerindian origin such as the Sioux, Yaqui, Cherokee or those from Latin America, Australia or Oceania. That is, non-Western cultures.On innumerable occasions Bedia lives with these people, trying to truly soak in all the details which make up their ‘way of living’. It is a form of field study, with all the rigour of anthropological science, but which does not seek any final scientific order. His ultimate goal is the creation of a structure of artistic reflection is the second phase which completes the process. What Bedia wishes to extract ‘from them’ is a profound knowledge of the reasons for their customs and beliefs, to understand the processes of development of other ways of living. It is a kind of “being” and “living there” with them, which ends up being a “living here”, among us, paraphrasing the United States anthropologist Clifford Geertz.The formal attractiveness of his drawing strengthens intensely the effectiveness of this reflection. The format chosen by Bedia is particularly effective. In the case of this exhibition in particular, all the pieces are on a paper which refers us back to the primitive, as it is either handmade or of a very non industrial character.On this ‘simple’ medium the ideas take form. He says, “The materials should be simple like the ideas. I do not like unnecessary decorations or Baroque mannerisms”. Well then, with this incisive simplicity he uses charcoal, oil, and acrylic, often applied directly with his hands, as a sort of direct transmission of his wish to be truly inside the work. Thus, Bedia simply implores us. He calls us. And what happens? He shows us what is the truth, without noise, without the inconvenience of what is worthless. This is his work: a terrain free of obstructions which lets us see the two worlds between which he draws and we live.