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Karen Safer

Karen Safer, a native Angelino, is an internationally exhibited, award-winning photographic artist and poet. Her passion for art began when given camera & crayons at 3 and immersed in California’s visual language. A lifelong traveler, she has explored over 230+ countries/territories, embracing both the exotic and unexpected. Influenced by her father’s black-and-white photography and her mother’s insatiable curiosity for knowledge and travel, her inspirations range from ancient Assyria to conceptual works of Cindy Sherman. She began as a painter before choosing photography in college, earned a master’s degree in art (UCLA & CSULB) and has a professional career in design and architecture. With 14 solo exhibitions and participation in over 670 shows, she has received more than 600+ awards, including 1st Pl Julia M Cameron Award, PISPA, TIFA, reFocus, CEV & DecAgon 1st Pl, Exposure One, etc. Her work has been featured in 180+ publications, such as LENS, Dodho, ArtTalk, ArtTour, Docu, One Eyeland, The Holy Art, Spotlight, Visual Poetry Journal, etc. She has exhibited worldwide even alongside Jackson Pollock in group exhibit in Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and continuously in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Prague, Venice, Florence, Barcelona, Budapest, Dubai, São Paulo, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Zurich, New York to Los Angeles, etc. Her work is held in numerous collections, and she is member of many organizations including LAAA-825 Gallery (monthly exhibitions), LACP, IAA-USA, APA-LA, CA Art League, etc. A self-described “romantic old soul” with intellectual cravings, she navigates the digital world while connected to art’s timeless essence. She embraces color but venerates black & white – realistic & abstract.

“An artist has the whole world big or small to capture.” KJ Safer
“Wherever I am is my favorite place in the world.” KJ Safer
 
 

Project Statement

We live in the shadows and patterns, the stuff that photography is made of. The images I have chosen for this submittal are mainly color but some monochrome. The focus is ethereal, dreamlike or radiant. I recently heard the famous astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson speak about art vs. science where he succinctly defined each art piece as something “unique” with nothing before or after it ever being the same, as opposed to the science world where everything is already present but possibly not yet discovered. I subscribe to that observation.


I am a long-time photographer from film to digital who has traveled across most of the planet’s surface and still, I come back to basic, straightforward images. I’ve experimented with more cutting-edge and au courant techniques and that is fine, but I seem to go back to my first orientation to the photographed image, inspired by the masters – simple, clean lines and straightforward. I don’t label myself a particular type of photographer – undefinable by category or genre; I am just a picture taker who snaps what appeals to my eye.

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