Jose Bedia returns to Snitzer gallery.

It’s always a pleasure to see José Bedia’s work shown in new and innovative ways. As one of Miami’s most treasured and respected artists, we usually see him in bits and pieces in museum shows, not in a thematically generated solo show, like what will open on Thursday at the Fredric Snitzer Gallery.

“Solitary Sailor” is a very contemporary exhibit, not as bound to traditional ritualistic practices and mythologies of various cultures of the Americas that Bedia is often known for. This artistic journey travels through 20th-century histories, and specifically musical ones, both the serious and the frivolous. That exploration uncovers the nature of our current situation, where cultural output is aesthetically beautiful and also aesthetically destructive.

According to Bedia, we have confused authentic cultural products with base entertainment to the extreme, where we “endure the distance existing between a Billie Holiday and Etta James, and a Madonna and Lady Gaga. Tolerate the gap from Goya and Joseph Beuys to Jeff Koons and Damian Hirst. Bear the stretch from the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix to Pitbull and Justin Bieber.”

To underscore that point, the show is subtitled “In Homage to Reginald Marsh, Edgar Jean Baptiste, Bill Taylor and Buddy Guy.” Guy, in fact, might be the best example of how to bridge that gap, between thoughtless pop culture and the importance of rooted culture that Bedia is getting at. A son of the Deep South, once a member of Muddy Waters band and an influential force in Chicago’s music scene, his blues are entertaining and infectious, while remaining authentic to an original sound unique to America.

“Solitary Sailor” opens on Thursday, June 5, from 7:00 t0 9:00 p.m., and runs through July 8 at the Fredric Snitzer Gallery, 2247 N.W. 1st Pl., Miami; www.snitzer.com.