Josemaría Bahena

My paintings are about basic human emotions” Mark Rothko

“An artist’s work should be autobiographical, the deeper he looks inside himself, the more universal he becomes” Marina Abramović manifesto.

“Painters should resemble their paintings, which end up becoming stand-ins for them, in a sense, for they create, they procreate art, or rather not: it is life they create, the first life, life itself” Yves Klein

Whenever I’m invited to talk about my work I like to quote my masters. Klein spoke strongly about the immaterial, and Abramovic’s ideas about the immaterial and universality are also found in Rothko’s statement,

I do interdisciplinary works, immaterial and performative. The paintings I am exploring and showing here are snapshots of maybe a sigh, a heartache, or a memory.

My work is autobiographical which ends up being universal as stated before.

I have studied the life and work of Yves Klein in the Yves Klein Archives in Paris, I consider myself a disciple of him. He dedicated part of his career to free the French painting from the line, by setting color free and creating what he called landscapes of freedom. I believe my paintings are about color as well, though I have attempted to capture color through th...

Art and culture PhD Guanajuato University 2019 - 2023 currently writing dissertation and doing research. Contemporary interpretation of immaterial works of Yves Klein.

Master of Fine Arts by Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos, México
2013-2015. Thesis on Yves Klein’s construction of the immaterial concept, research conducted at the Yves Klein Archives in Paris. 2014

Contemporary art history at INHA Institute National d’histoire de l’art, Paris France, 2014

Bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts, CMA Morelos Center of the Arts, 2007-2011

Selected exhibitions
• .JGP .jbg, Solo show, paintings, Emiliano’s, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, March 2016
• Yves Klein talk, French Alliance of Cuernavaca, Mexico, February 2016
• Talk on The scapular and the use of autobiographical material, Museum of Popular Morelos Art, Cuernavaca, Mexico, June 2015
• Faîtes de mères, collective exhibition, Galerie Simple, Paris, France May 2015
• Stabat Mater, interdisciplinary solo show, Cuernavaca city Museum, March 2015
• Internship, Yves Klein Archives, Paris, France, November 2014

• Research stay, Yves Klein Archives, Paris, France, August 2014 – December 2014

• Ignatia Amara, solo show, performance, ceramic and textile, Simon gallery, Cuernavaca, Mexico, 2011
Scholarships and honors
• CONACYT scholarship for PhD students in the National Program of Quality Graduate Studies, Mexico, 2013-2015
• CONACYT scholarship for Master’s degree students in the National Program of Quality Graduate Studies, Mexico, 2013-2015
• CONACYT scholarship for international graduate student exchange, August 2014 – December 2014


Published articles
• Art and self-torment, El sol de Morelos, Mexico 2013
• Anorexy and egocentrism in the arts, La Jornada de Morelos, Mexico, 2012
• Work of...