Sharif Bey
Through June 1. Albertz Benda, 515 West 26th Street, Manhattan; 212-244-2579,
In his practice as a sculptor, Sharif Bey has always embraced the visual cues of traditional Oceanic and African art, imbuing them with a sense of the modern. In “Crowns Encoded,” his first solo show in New York City, the Syracuse-based artist continues a trajectory of establishing an aura of authority and spiritual presence through an exploration of scale.
Everything is oversized: Heads invoke the Nkisi, spiritual objects used in ancient rituals by the Congo peoples of sub-Saharan Africa; the spoons and glass beads that form the droopy hair of the figures refer to interior decorative objects in the homes of family and friends in Pittsburgh, where he grew up. Through rigid facial features inspired by the monolithic figures carved by the Rapa Nui of Easter Island, Bey conveys a sense of contemplative darkness on the faces. The darkness between the eyes is even more powerful than the chains draped around some of the figures.
Yet the weightiness of Bey’s sculptures is not a result of their size alone but also of an agglutination of many smaller materials. This is most obvious in “Guardian Series: Soul Collector” from 2022, where the figure is impaled with nails and heads are stuck onto its torso.
Originally, the Nkisi was an object intended to accrue different materials through its lifetime as part of the owner’s spiritual journey. For Bey, who turns 50 in June and is now making the largest works of his career, this accrual invites contemplation: Are the burdens of life — gathered from experiences, emotions, events — forms of beautification rather than chains of bondage?
