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Karen Safer
USA Nominee Architectural Amateur "Big Broad Eye" Karen Safer Condensed Statement: (Condensed version) I got a camera and some crayons as a kid, journeyed along a path in life - far from what I'd expected, moved from youth to middle age, did some work, had some fun, got high, got low, and just continue doing it - never tiring of the next visual surprise. - Life is still a mystery, after all. Karen Safer is a photographic artist, published writer and poet with a musical bent. As a fifth generation native Angelino, she was given a camera and crayons at 3 and exposed to the dominant California motifs: light, palm trees, the ocean, music and vernacular architecture that helped define and influence her left-handed aesthetic. influenced by her artistic father who developed black & white photos in their washroom and her mother's love of history, language, thirst for knowledge and travel, she is a self-described “romantic soul with intellectual cravings.†She was fortunate to begin a life of travel as a pre-teen that shaped her love of the exotic, paired with an eye for the formal, accidental and unusual while subliminally seeking the beautiful that jiggled the lens/frame of her eye. From the onset she documented her surrounding, moving from instamatics to Nikons, scouting or accidentally finding a subject to dance around and capture. From Kodachrome to digital, the magic of discovery and process was always the most exciting. Competing currently in exhibitions has stretched and expanded her visual vocabulary. She has traveled and photographed in over 230 countries and territories. She began exhibiting her photography in the 1980s. During COVID she photographed from her balcony and was dubbed the "Monet of Playa del Rey." Not quite sure if behind or ahead of the times, she has now had over 12 solo shows and 380+ juried and group exhibitions - most recently in London, Rome, Glasgow, Zurich, Budapest, Barcelona, Athens, Prague, Paris, Amsterdam, Belgium, Hawaii, Canada, Tokyo and from California to New York and from Minnesota to Santa Fe, to Florida. Winning over 360 awards (First, Talent, Merit, Honorable Mention, etc.). She’s been featured in magazines, newspapers, museums and included in public and private collections with listings in Marquis Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in Professional Women. Her art journey began by painting and printmaking, alongside the study of art and architectural history before wholly embracing photography, with influences from Mesopotamia to Vermeer/Matisse and Atget to Cindy Sherman. She received a bachelor and master’s degree with honors in art from CSULB and UCLA. Her professional career includes work in design and architecture firms, and she is principle of ArtFocus International. She is a member of numerous art and other organizations - theater and opera and the IAA-USA (UNESCO), LAAA, LA Center for Photography, British Royal Academy of Art, and longtime Los Angeles County Museum of Art member and the Museum of Contemporary Art. She believes artists are vessels through which vision passes back to the world. “Art Saves Lives and images are powerful in lifting spirit. An image is universal like music - uniting people everywhere regardless of nationality, race or creed. Artists have the whole world - big or small - to capture.†kjs When asked her favorite spot on the planet, she replies, “Wherever I am at the moment.†|
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