David Safier's
Insider Art

About

From nowhere? De profundis?

The pictures I am showing on this site have been "produced" at various periods since 1968. These tableaus were all "received" by me under very high inner pressure. And just a word about me: My name is David Safier. I was born and grew up in Pennsylvania (USA) but have been living in Paris, France, since 1967 where I have been working as a psychotherapist for many years.

Both unexpected and unpredictable, the images you are going to see are the result of a welling-up of graphic expressions whose forms and colors seem anything but arbitrary. Yet, where do they come from and what, if any, is their purpose?

I have decided that I would like to share some of these pictures and ask you for impressions, associations and thoughts if you are so inclined.

I would like to add that I've never had any "artistic" training nor do I have any particular conscious ability in this area. I can only say that these pictures have come and I have been "led" to discover whatever media is necessary at a given time just as the images and colors come up and out on their own. Further, I would like this site to be an evolving one. In other words, more pictures will be added as time goes on.

The pictures shown at present are drawn from well over 17,000 produced during the periods: 1968-1970, 1982-1987, 1995-1996, 1999 and Dec. 2002 to the present (January 2008 and still counting).

One last note: I am aware that these colored images can sometimes be compared with recognized forms such as Australian Aboriginal art, "art brut" produced usually by the "insane", as well as so-called primitive, naïve, folk or even pre-columbian art forms found in diverse parts of the world. Some may also resemble sacred, archetypal productions found in India, Tibet, etc.

However, I do claim that I have done no copying and none of these is "inspired" by any of these traditions. So, now it's up to you to see if you have any comments, impressions or questions.

To the extent that an internal experience can be put into words, I would like to present what I know of the process that presides over the images presented on this site.

This site could just as well be called "Art Attack" or "Chakra'activity" in that it shows the results of a welling-up of irrepressible emotional energy that won't take no for an answer. As you can see, this rushing-up to expression does not lead to arbitrary or chaotic forms. No control is possible nor is any forcing necessary. I have always sensed that the energy that creates these images is not just "mental" or "spiritual" but rather a huge amount of emotional force breaking through to express "something". (The message, origins and purposes of this expression still remain to be seen and understood by the person producing them) These very deep energies permeate the physical body and scream and push, as it were, for immediate expression. Vibration and color are closely intermingled here; the form simply reveals itself as it goes onto the page.

To me, the distinction usually made between personal and professional life can easily be an artificial and unnecessarily protective barrier. In my "work" as a psychotherapist, I have come to realize that for many people(as for myself), the symptoms, blockages, difficulties, conflicting situations and suffering they present can turn out to be so many potential entry points(or starting blocks) into a globally creative process designed to release held emotional energy into creative expressions. For each person, this authentic expressing will naturally be individual and unique and may take on quite various forms, but will inevitably be authentic.

If these pictures and this brief evocation of a process interest you, why not let me know by contacting me?

Here are a few images of the stages of how a picture appears and goes through an elaboration process. Simple, basic lines, becoming more and more complex, layer upon layer. Increasing charge until I feel it's done. The next, upcoming image is already pushing from behind...

Galleries

Here are more than 1000 paintings and drawings, organized in five series.
Each one has a specific topic, but the works are not shown in any special order within the series.

Inside the inside story...
Colors informed by energy, expressing and manifesting. Embryos in brio. Fecundation and birthing. Sunbursts and vortices. Face to face with our origins. G(r)a(s)ping at the gap. Facing the faces.
... and mor(ph) from within
Colors informed by energy, expressing and manifesting. Embryos in brio. Fecundation and birthing. Sunbursts and vortices. Face to face with our origins. G(r)a(s)ping at the gap. Facing the faces.
The silver thread
Uniting of essence and energies separated since the emergence. The flame in the brain. Spiritual/terrestrial.
Proto-human creatures
Fantastic? Science fiction? Beings of other dimensions(and of another stripe)? Co(s)mic?
Pastels
Retelling the past. The pastels the story.
From subatomic to cellular
Differentiation, reticulation. Up and down the scales of creation. Sometimes a figuration.

Contact

Email

For any questions or comments on the contents of this site, you can send me an e-mail at the following address:

contact@insider-art.net