Ciclon Vs. Rayo

• Date:1994
• Type:

  print

• Medium:

  etching, aquatint and chine collÈ

• Credit:

  Purchased with funds from the Alan May Endowment

José Bedia still draws artistic sources from his multi-cultural Cuban heritage.  A body of recent prints, Ciclón vs. Rayo among them, are derived from folktales and proverbs familiar to the artist from his Indian, African and Creole roots.  Bedia typically creates flat, silhouetted figures simultaneously reminiscent of prehistoric cave painting, North Dakota Sioux pictographs, and modern comic strips or animated cartoons.  In the 1994 etching (with aquatint and chine collé), a boldly contemporary conflation of styles breathes new life into these ancient stories. Rayo is a mystical figure with a wolfskin cloak and the tongue of a butterfly.  His body melds with the natural landscape: his arms sprout plants; a small man strides up his graceful, cliff-like neck.  Ciclón vs. Rayo is a tale of elemental natural forces -- the sun and the wind  -- in perpetual struggle.  Rayo grapples with Ciclón, attempting to disentangle its swirling winds, which have trapped a group of disembodied talking heads.  The luminous gold background steeps the scene in a primeval glow.