Henry Bermudez

Henry Bermudez is a seasoned American contemporary artist born in Venezuela. Emerged from the Caribbean tropics, his artistic life has been an unexpected hybrid of ideas informed by an acute sensitivity to the past, stenciled as part of a personal inventory onto different foreign places that throughout his life have become his home and his artistic working territory.

"My paintings are steeped in mythical dream imagery within an otherworldliness of carefully constructed creature and plant forms. Further defined by my identity as a Latino, my work combines symbols and myth from ancient pre-Hispanic cultures with the iconography of contemporary art. The result of this autobiographical vision is a blend of cultural diversities that further defines itself through my immersion in societies other than the one I was born into. Through my exposure to religious and social syncretism, my visual itinerary became charged with powerful influences which provided a unique vision of the African Diaspora in the Americas, its symbolism, and iconography." - Henry Bermudez

Bermudez’s journey of unique geographical, artistic and human observation has taken him from educational experiences in small isolated communities in the Caribbean up to representing Venezuela in the Venice Biennial. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PA); Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase, NY); Modern Art Museum of Mexico (Mexico City); Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin); Venezuela National Gallery (Caracas); Museum of Contemporary Art (Maracay, Merida, Maracaibo, Caracas); Modern Art Museum of Costa Rica; Museum of Art a Ralli @Punta Del Este Uruguay; and many private collections across the globe. Since his arrival in the USA in 2003, Bermudez has been commissioned by the Mural Arts Program of Philadelphia on several major projects. In 2011, he was one of a handful of artists chosen to work with the Philagrafika print collaborative founded by artistic director and curator Jose Roca. In 2012 Mr. Bermudez received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. He was elected to present an installation at The Philadelphia International Airport Art program in 2014. Currently he is the recipient of a Peter Benoliel Fellowship from CFEVA in Philadelphia, PA.

Henry Bermudez currently teaches art at the Career Academy Developing Institute (CADI) and at Fleisher Art Memorial, and maintains an active international exhibition schedule. He maintains a studio in Philadelphia, PA.

Courtesy of Susanna W. Gold, PhD