Jose Bedia's "Desde que te fuistes.. tu no te imaginas."

The 1980's marks the introduction of what many people call the "Cuban Renaissance." Throughout this time, there were many works of art that were being made by a generation of Cuban artists who broke away from state regulated images they were supposed to follow. They started creating art that was more unique and individual. This cultural example is part of what is called Postmodernism.

The generation of Cuban artists who started this was called the "first generation artists."

One artist involved in this Cuban Renaissance was Jose Bedia. Bedia was born in Havana, Cuba in 1959. Bedia was interested in, (like many "first generation" artists) experimenting in different ways, both formally and through iconography, to break away from restrictions that were very much part of the work made in the 1960's and 1970's. So the essence of the Cuban Renaissance was all about breaking new ground and coming up with fresh, new art.

The Mona Lisa.

Woman in Havana, Cuba

A Cuban Blackbird in Havana, Cuba.

Jose Bedia was trained in Western Art. His work has always generally focused on Afro-Cuban and American culture. When you go through and study his work you will see that he often refers to the Santeria. The Santeria is one of the four religious cultural Afro-Cuban groups that is in Cuba.

From the time of the mid-1970's, Bedia had been making art that specifically was trying to convey and define his own heritage. He was concerned in shaping the differences between the languages, beliefs and values of other people and cultures that he had been in contact in, especially American.

Also another element that you discover in Jose Bedia's art work is that traditional dichotomies between primitive and modern, mythological and factual, and nature and culture. So in his work you can frequently see a mixture of two different stories going on along with...