Photograph by Dusy Herbig.
The curator Rachel Delphia has described Sharif Bey as a “triple threat—a sculptor, an educator, and a scholar.”¹ Raised in Pittsburgh and now based in Syracuse, New York, Bey’s work has the ad hoc inventiveness one often finds in the post-industrial American city: his ceramics are sometimes embellished using spray paint and auto body filler. Though he is indeed a much-respected teacher—and has a doctorate in art education—Bey is also an inveterate student, whose work is based on sustained examination of African, Persian, and Mesoamerican art.
Congolese minkisi, spirits that inhabit figures bearing sacred substances and have nails driven into their wooden forms, are a particular touchstone; he has also been inspired by African body decorations, such as the oversized beads worn in Berber communities. His various influences combine into works like this pert Kiwi Bird, which could be a totemic figure within an unknown ritual practice. Its feathers are rendered in pottery shards, a way of acknowledging the historic ceramic industry long centered in Syracuse.
¹ Rachel Delphia, “Sharif Bey: Artist, Teacher, Scholar,” in Sharif Bey: Intuitions, Fault Lines, and Musings (Pittsburgh: Concept Art Gallery, 2019), 2.
Kiwi Bird #5 in earthenware, china shards and mixed media. Designed and made by Sharif Bey, USA, 2019.
20” L x 13” W x 13” H
50.8cm L x 33cm W x 33cm H
SP1370
Courtesy of Albertz Benda Gallery