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Visual Artists:
Harvey BALL: (Cintas for art, 1985-86)
Juan Pablo BALLESTER (b.
1966, Camagüey):
The Barcelona-based Ballester was a member of the Havana artists’ collective
known as ABTV, whose conceptual work was influenced by post-modernist
theories. He has become increasingly interested in photography
and video art. In 1992, he moved to Spain, where he exhibits
frequently. In 1997, he participated in the “guerrilla
performance piece” Sudaca Enterprises with Coco Fusco
and María Elena Escalona at ARCO 97 in Madrid. His work
is in the permanent collections of the Museo Nacional de Bellas
Artes in Havana, Ludwig Forum in Aachen and the Museo Nacional
de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. Ballester studied at
the Instituto Superior de Arte de La Habana. (Cintas for art,
1998-99)
 Lilliam BECKER (b. Havana): A freelance art
director, translator and teacher, Becker has worked with fashion
photographers and record and video producers. Her drawings,
etchings and silk-screens have been exhibited in galleries
in Puerto Rico, Japan, Italy, Venezuela and several cities
in the United States. Becker graduated from the City University
of New York and studied film and languages in Florence, Italy.
(Cintas in art, 1979)
 Jose BEDIA (b. 1959,
Havana): Bedia works in several media, including painting,
installation and ceramics, and has participated in dozens
of solo and group exhibitions in the United States and across
the world. His work is strongly evocative of Afro-Cuban religions
as well as of the rituals of Native Americans, whose culture
he studies. His work has been acquired by galleries and major
collectors, including the Centro Cultural/Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City,
the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, the Museum of Art at
the Rhode Island School of Design, the Museum of Contemporary
Art in San Diego, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Whitney
Museum of American Art and the Miami-Dade Public Library. Bedia
attended the Escuela de Arte de San Alejandro and the Instituto
Superior de Arte in Havana. He is the winner of Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a Premio Fundación Joan
Miró and numerous other awards. (Cintas for Art, 1997)
 Jaime BELLECHASSES (b. 1944, Havana): After
graduating from the National Academy of San Alejandro, Bellechasses
exhibited in Cuba, Mexico and Spain and his illustrations appeared
in Revolución,Bohemia and Noticias
de Arte, among other publications. He was one of the artists
represented in 10 Out of Cuba at INTAR Latin American
Gallery in 1982. (Cintas for art,1981-82,1983-84)
Marilys BELT DE DOWNEY: (Cintas in art, 1973-74).
 Elio BELTRÁN (b.
1929, Regla): The critic Armando Álvarez Bravo has described Beltrán’s
work as one influenced by the “experience of separation,
exile and loss.” Beltrán has participated in exhibitions
such as Cuba-USA: The First Generation traveling
exhibition and African Currents at the Museum of Contemporary
Hispanic Art in New York. He has shown his work in numerous
galleries and museums in the United States, including the Paterson
Museum and the Bergen Museum in New Jersey. One of his pieces, Transiciones,
was purchased for the permanent collection of the Museum of
the Organization of American States; his work is also in the
permanent collections of the Frost Art Museum at Florida International
University, and the Institute of Art and Education in New York.
The French Academy of Arts awarded Beltrán a Silver
Medal for his work. Beltrán is the author of the book Back
to Cuba (The return of the butterflies). (Cintas for art,
1983-84)
Mario BENCOMO (b.
1953, Pinar del Río): Noted
for the strong imagery, color and ambiguity of in his
paintings, drawings and artist’s books, Bencomo has participated
in exhibitions at venues that include the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Chicago, the Minnesota Museum of Art, the Contemporary
Art Center in New Orleans, the Centre d’Art Santa Monica
in Barcelona and the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
His work was included in the Outside Cuba exhibition,
the Miami Generation traveling exhibition and the
Cuba-USA: The First Generation traveling exhibition. His
work is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Denver
Art Museum, Havana’s Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes,
the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, the Miami-Dade
Public Library and the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington,
D.C., among others. (Cintas for art, 1984-1985)
 José Ygnacio
BERMÚDEZ (b.
Havana 1922-d Phoenix, 1998): Part of a group of abstract expressionist
artists who came of age in the 1950s and became known as “Los
Once,” Bermúdez was known for his work in painting,
sculpture, photography and graphic design. Between 1953 and
1971, he was program officer in the Cultural Affairs Division
of the Organization of American States and later head of its
graphic services division. He exhibited widely in the United
States and abroad, including solo shows at the Museo de Bellas
Artes in Caracas. In 1961, he won first prize at the American
Mural Competition in Maryland, and in 1969, second prize at
the IX Festival de Arte in Cali, Colombia. Bermúdez
also made several documentary films. His work is in several
major collections and museums, including the Detroit Art Institute,
the J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, the Museo
de Bellas Artes de Caracas, the Museum of Modern Art in New
York, the Miami-Dade Public Library and the Philadelphia Museum
of Art. (Cintas for art, 1969-70, 1970-71)
Secundino (Cundo)
BERMÚDEZ (b.
Havana, 1914): Bermúdez attended the Escuela Nacional
de Bellas Artes as well as the University of Havana, where
he studied political science and economics. He was founding
member of the Asociación de Pintores y Escultores de
Cuba, created in 1949. A figurative painter and muralist, Bermúdez
spent a year working in Mexico in the late 1930s and acknowledges
the influence of the Mexican muralists in his early work. Bermúdez
participated in countless solo and group exhibitions, beginning
in 1942, when he showed his gouaches and water colors at the
Havana Lyceum, and including galleries and museums in Chile,
Guatemala, Haiti, Peru, Sweden, Venezuela and several cities
in the United States. He received the award “Homage
to Picasso” from the Organization of American States.
One of Bermúdez’s large ceramic murals was installed
in the gardens of the OAS General Secretariat building in Washington.
He was commissioned to create a glass mosaic mural, 27 feet
by 40 feet, for the lobby of a studio theater that will be
attached to the ballet-opera hall in Miami’s new Performing
Arts Center. His work is in the permanent collection of the
Miami-Dade Public Library. (Cintas for art, 1973-74)
Juan BOZA (b. Camagüey, 1941-d. New
York, 1991): A member for many years of Havana’s Taller
Experimental de la Gráfica, Boza excelled at painting,
drawing, engraving, installation and graphic design. After
arriving in New York in 1980, he worked at the Printmaking
Workshop, the Lower Eastside Printshop and the Art Student
League. He began exhibiting his work in Camagüey in 1964
and participated in many shows in Cuba and the United States,
as well as in Europe and Latin America. He was the recipient
of the Jerome Foundation Fellowship to the Printmaking Workshop.
He was one of the artists featured in Wayne Salazar’s
1985 documentary Cuba-USA: Three Cuban Artists in New York
City. His work was included in the Outside Cuba exhibition
and the Cuba-USA: The First Generation traveling exhibition.
His work is in the collections of the British Broadcasting
Corporation and the Museo de la Universidad Autónoma
de México, among others. (Cintas for art, 1983-84,
1985-86)
 Ernesto BRIEL (b.
Guanabacoa, 1943- d. New York, 1992): An artist with a particular
interest in the theater, Briel was a painter and set designer
who also worked briefly as an actor. He studied painting at
San Alejandro and design at the Escuela Nacional de Diseño in Havana,
and photography at the Parsons School of Design in New York.
He participated in solo and group shows in the United States
and Cuba. In 1994, two years after his death, the Jadite
Galleries in New York presented an exhibition of his work.
His work is in the collections of the Housatonic Museum of
Art in Bridgeport, Conn.; the Jersey City Museum in New Jersey
and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana. (Cintas
for art, 1988-89)
Maria BRITO (b. Havana, 1947): From her base
in Miami, the sculptor Maria Brito has gained wide recognition
and is frequently exhibited in the United States and abroad.
Her work was chosen for the third ¡Mira! Canadian
Club Hispanic Art Tour, for Ceremony of Memory,
a major exhibition of work by Hispanic artists that toured
the United States, for the Miami Generation traveling
exhibition, the Cuba-USA: The First Generation traveling
exhibition and for the landmark The Decade Show in
New York. She is the winner of fellowships and grants
from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Florida Department
of State, the South Florida Consortium, the Pollock‑Krasner
Foundation and the Virginia A. Groot Foundation. Brito is one
of the artists profiled in Maria Lino’s 1988 documentary
film Three Artist Profiles. She is also one of the
featured artists in the book Latin American Women Artists
of the United States. Brito’s work is in the permanent
collection of the Miami-Dade Public Library. She has a master
of fine arts degree from the University of Miami. (Cintas for
art, 1981-82, 1985-86)
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