T. A. M.: More than a traditional collection, it seems that you view this more as a kind of visual dictionary. J. B.: The idea of forming a visual dictionary is well said. It is more like living with a bunch of open books that are constantly giving you information than cohabiting with an inert group of exotic objects. This is also why I don’t hang any of my own paintings in my house. I prefer to have room for tribal objects instead, because they are what intellectually nourish me. T. A. M.: How does this vocabulary affect your own work? J. B.: Over time, the force living with these objects has internalized in me a sense of natural form and an ongoing artistic dialog. Every one of the many objects around me leaves its mark in me, whether I consciously realize it or not. Again, some of the most obvious 140 infl uences are the ledger drawings, which began during my years as a student in the early seventies. Also, the use of images and the symbiosis between humans and animals, and vice versa, is noticeable. Likewise, the reiteration in tribal art of an apparent “symmetry,” which in school I was taught to reject, and relationships involving the use of color and visual textures affect some of my artistic choices. The execution of a work using my hands directly is another similarity, as is a preoccupation for content beyond the apparent formal simplicity. T. A. M.: The parallels seem very strong indeed. Does this translate into a spiritual connection, or is the relationship more of an artistic one? J. B.: For me, there is no tangible separation between spiritual connection and artistic infl uence. In fact, for the result to be good, there shouldn’t be one. I try to bring to contemporary art concepts that have unfortunately been lost or have been missing altogether. The artistic construction of most of today’s contemporary art has been voluntarily “decaffeinated.” In past cultures, for an object to have actual value, it needed to have an active power ingredient, which could be tangible or intangible. In tribal art, everything is full of meaning and nothing is gratuitous or abstract, nor is it the result of trivial or frivolous boredom. I feel more in accord with these levels of communication in tribal art than I do with the contemporary art world of which I am a part, because I feel there is a “protein defi ciency” in the latter, which makes it “poor nutrition” to my taste. Left: A colorful Yaka mask from the Congo in the foreground and a group of nineteenth-century Chokwe adopted fl intlock rifl es from Angola. Below left: Delicate and fi nely crafted Inuit model kayaks from Alaska. Bottom left: A fi ne array of Bundu dance masks from the Mende people of Sierra Leone. Bottom: Asmat shields in the background, overseen by a large woven fi ber mask from Papua New Guinea. Photos: José Bedia Jr. TRIBAL people FACING PAGE, top to bottom: A fi ne collection of Plains Indian ledger drawings. East and South African beadwork. A collection of Bakongo power fi gures as well as a Bakongo crucifi x in the foreground and a collection of African shields on the wall behind. Photos: José Bedia Jr.
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