Amir Bey is a New York–based mixed-media sculptor, curator, performance artist, writer, radio producer, teaching artist, and occult practitioner. His practice spans stone, wood, silkscreen, papier-mâché, video, copper, bronze, life casts, and large-scale mixed-media installations. From 1989 to 1999, he served as curator at the Bronx River Art Center and Gallery, where he fostered an environment of experimentation and community engagement.

Myth and history form the foundation of Bey’s artistic vision, with the face and mask recurring as central motifs. As he observes, “the face has a vocabulary comprised of a small number of simple components uniquely arranged that are universally recognized.” This philosophy underpins many of his series, including The Procession of Folk, a body of work centered on carved stone faces and masks designed both as performance objects and as exhibition pieces. A highlight of the series, Procession of Folk #3, consists of twelve faceted glass windows permanently installed at the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Mount Eden Station on the Bronx’s #4 train line.

Bey has collaborated with numerous multidisciplinary artists and curated a wide range of exhibitions. His performance with JD Parran, Elevated Moon, has been described as a “ritualistic happening with a combination of sound, movement, visual vibrance, and light projections.” Beyond visual art, Bey is also a practitioner of astrology and tarot; he authored the Equinox Celebration Tarot, published in both English and Japanese.

In addition to his visual and performance practice, Bey produces the online newspaper The New Times Holler, extending his creative voice into the literary and journalistic realm.

Selected Exhibitions

Moyo Royo: Documents of Late 20th Century Urban Africans Living in North America, Trotter House Gallery, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, MI, 1977

Curator's Choice IV: Irit Batsry, Amir Bey, Josely Carvalho, Alexander Drewchin, Paul Graham, Bronx Museum of Arts, Bronx, NY 1989

World Exorcisms, Gallery X, NY, 2001

A Cry for Peace, Fire Patrol No. 5 Gallery, NY, 2001-02

AMIR BEY: The Faces of Giza, Egyptian Embassy, Washington, DC, 2002

AMIR BEY: Whirlers, Gallery X, New York, NY, 2002

AMIR BEY: Flying Loa, Suffolk County Community College, Brentwood, NY, 2003

Bronx Bound: New MTA Arts for Transit Projects, Lehman College Art Gallery, CUNY, Bronx, 2006

Voices from the Boroughs, The Greene Space, NY, 2009