The Dominican Republic too often flies under the radar when it comes to recognizing our Caribbean neighbors. This nation that shares a space with Haiti on the big island of Hispaniola gets overlooked when we talk about the art, music and history that emanates from the region, which is a real shame since it is rich in all those aspects.

The artist Jose Bedia would like to help change that, starting with a solo exhibit opening May 31 at the Fredric Snitzer Gallery, called “Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell).” Bedia has been exploring native, indigenous roots, including the unique expressions of spiritualism and religiosity, in the Caribbean and other lands for decades – the art that he has created from those explorations is currently being highlighted at MAM (a Knight Arts grantee) in  “Transcultural Pilgrim: Three Decades of Work by Jose Bedia,” a simply sublime show of the artist’s delicate and complex work. This gallery exhibit is meant to be a complementary showcase.

The DR, as it is known, has a complicated, long, sometimes tragic, sometimes proud history. The capital Santo Domingo was the first stop for Christopher Columbus – for better and for worse, opening up the Americas to European conquest. Its heritage is a fascinating mixture of native Indian, African, Spanish, French and other cultures who have passed through this original European colony, with difficult interludes of civil wars, fights with Haiti and the infamous dictatorship during the 20th century of Trujillo. But somehow, this got a little lost sandwiched between other dramatic trajectories of places such as Cuba and Haiti.

The gallery notes summarize Bedia’s intent to revise our perceptions. “Santo Domingo, in its ostensibly paradisiacal, tropical naiveté, presents a less precise outline, defies sweeping generalizations and resists definition. The West’s deftness in decaffeinating, diluting, simplifying or pigeonholing its products, ideas and yes, even entire cultures, is at the very least short-sighted and at the worst, dangerous. How can we define others from our limited, ethnocentric perspectives? La República Dominicana  – a country teeming with contradictions, however contemptible and intractable, demands our attention. This ‘drama’ has inspired Bedia’s exhibition, a simultaneously irreverent and adoring tribute to so generous and gracious a nation.”

This show is the second in a series that Bedia has dedicated to the Dominican Republic, and is a mysterious, strange, beautiful artistic journey, as is par for the course.

“Une Saison en Enfer” runs through June 30 at 2247 NW 1st Pl., Miami; 305-448-8976; www.snitzer.com