My name is Mark Stanley-Bey, but I prefer to be called Stan-Bey. I am an artist who has continued my work since my incarceration. My mantra is, “I love all things art.” I agree with a fellow artist who said that as artists we are indestructible regardless of our surroundings, whether they be in prison or in a concentration camp. I am almighty in my own world of art.
I work in watercolor, color pencil, lead pencil, Micron/Technia pens, and dipping ink for my stippling technique. I learned this stippling technique and watercolor process through a fellow incarcerated man who was an art teacher from Ohio. This teaching gave me the incentive to better myself as a person and as an artist for the art world inside and outside of prison.
My new “Wild, Wild, West” and ”Military Mite” series depict African Americans characters with disabilities that didn't let physical challenges stop them from performing their duties as enforcers of the law. All are part of the same secret order, with the “Wild Wild West” working as local civil servants and the “Military Mite” operating globally, with military training. Influenced by the semi-future Steampunk genre, each character has adapted biomechanical appendages and unique abilities that help them to overcome their disability. A graphic novel based on some of these characters is in the works.
I was inspired by the idea long ignored in conventional thinking that African American innovation was absent in the Americas. Contrary to popular belief African Americans contributed to America's Victorian and Industrial era inventions. The current shape of the common ironing board, and the cotton gin are examples. Additionally, many innovations used today have their roots in African culture.
Read more about this body of work, San Quentin News, Steampunk Styling.
Mark Stanley-Bey, aka Stan-Bey, was born in Chicago, Illinois, in the late 1950s, then moved to California with his family where he grew up. He is a veteran who served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam conflict. Stan-Bey has been inspired by and involved in art much of his life. In 1978, after studying graphic illustration at Los Angeles Trade Tech, he was hired by Subia, Inc.—a graphics company—where he did graphic designs for Subia’s clients, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Lockheed, and other government agencies.
In 2022 Stan-Bey illustrated a children’s book called “Visiting Mom” about a young girl who visits her mom in prison for the first time and finds it very stressful and intimidating. His artwork has been featured in several exhibitions including Meet us Quickly with Your Mercy: Painting for Justice, Museum of the African Diaspora(2020); Return to Sender: Prison as Censorship, EFA Gallery NY(2023); The View from Here, Philadelphia, Mill Valley Public Library and Richmond Art Center, CA(2023 & 2024).
Mark Stanley-Bey (CDCR# D66938)
San Quentin State Prison 1-D-19
San Quentin, CA 94974
California | SQSP
