Safari: The Artistic Alchemist

“I wish I had a profound reason for ‘why’ but it started as a joke,” Bronx artist Safari tells me,” I decided one day I was the ‘King of Alchemy’ and my paintings would give people “auric moodlets” like– you know– in The Sims game.”

Safari, who just started painting in February of this year, soon found that the joke was on them.

“I just never expected my paintings to do exactly that,” Safari said, “I was beginning to feel like that Alchemic King I spoke of and started transmuting all the ways life made me feel.”

On a minor scale, Safari tells me that tapping into their artistic ability gifted them with a new enthusiasm for day-to-day life.

“Even when my current skill level stresses me out, I’m excited because I’m doing what I love and the feeling of being in love with something swallows me whole,” Safari said.

Safari, whose entire family is from Trinidad and Tobago, is currently creating around occult and folklore themes.

“Our culture and knowledge feels endless,” Safari said, ” It’s one of my favorite aspects of being Caribbean. Occult themes excite me. It plays into my art because I want to see everything in its most raw state.”

” I want to show the world one day that playing in your shadow is nothing to be afraid of but something to deeply embrace.”

Like many artists, Safari also uses art to cope with life’s hardships.

“I love the human experience, no matter how trifling it can be,” Safari said, “My being eats it up and spits it back out however I want it to. That’s my art.”

Creating through these hardships has also led to great self-discovery and inner-growth for Safari.

“When you are on the path to destiny, then you are met with no opposition except for yourself,” Safari said, ” It feels as if I’m on the fast track of growth and expansion, like I’m being prepared for more of what life has to offer.”

To Safari, this translates to lots of healing, self-exploration and aligning with others who are well into living out their purpose.

Being a Libra Sun/Scorpio Moon with their Sun, Mercury and Venus in the 7th House, which rules one-on-one relationships, Safari enjoys going deep but also bringing everything to the surface to relate and connect with others.

“I want the whole world to embrace their death and rebirth cycles as much as I do,” Safari said, “I want us to learn about the inner child, to know that our inner child is not inherently traumatized, nor does it have to be soft. I want us to find strength, power and vitality as we were meant to.”

CREATIVE PROCESS

Safari stands for hours painting, blasting music, and spitting energy onto the canvas.

“More than half the time, I don’t plan on what I’m going to create, but as an artist with slim knowledge and training, I’m constantly trying to learn to incorporate new processes into my arsenal of creativity,” Safari said, “When I set my intention, it simply flows through me.”

Safari also tells me that their creative process depends on the day and that ideas often find them through dreams.

“The ideas are oddly aloof. Most of the time, I see glimpses of images, colors and symbolisms,” Safari explained, “Then I’d use my claircognizance (inner-knowing) to further plan and develop the piece alongside the energy I receive from the dream. Other times, I’ll know the energy I’d like to cultivate in a piece. Often times, it’s the energy or a lesson or an emotion I had just gotten through.”

In addition to divine insight, Safari is also inspired by the psyche.

“I am inspired by the depth of feeling and all the ways we choose to express as people,” Safari said,” I don’t think someone’s art is their absolute expression. I think personality is because of the ways we can’t help but behave and interact. So if you’re able to see the ‘why’ behind the personality, then you have a taste of the ‘why’ behind the art. It’s all intersected in one experience.”

“The subconscious translated into physicality…. that is what inspires me.”