My guest today is Henry Burmudez. He became a major artist in his home country of Venezuela in the 70’s through the early 2000’s. He made a good living and prospered as a creative force in his home town of Caracas. Among his other accomplishments, he represented Venezuela at the 1986 Venice Biennale.

In 1998 , with the election of Cesar Chavez, his world began to fall apart. With the collapse of the economy, his  collector base evaporated and left the artist with no way of making a living and support his family. With the help of artist Frank Hyder, he was invited to show in Miami Florida.  He eventually made his way to Philadelphia where he forged a new life as an artist and in 2024 had a 20 year retrospective at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia. The exhibit  was a survey of his extraordinary reinvention of himself and his artwork in his new chosen home. With the results of the recent election in the US, he is now reminded of the challenges he faced in Venezuela.We will be talking about all of that and what it means to be an artist in the world today.