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After leaving TIME Magazine in the mid 1960s, Safran embarked on a project that would absorb him for nearly twenty years - painting scenes of everyday life in pre-gentrification Manhattan. Throughout this period, Safran deliberately chose to paint portraits of people surrounded by urban decrepitude. He wanted to show the texture of life in a huge urban environment.
His warm, dark palette sets the tone of the paintings, and emphasizes the brooding atmosphere of the city. Despite the sometimes overwhelmingly depressing settings, he acknowledges the strength and grittiness of the individuals. "The people in my paintings are surrounded by enormous forces, but they're not defeated," he wrote.
To reflect the intricacy of real life, Safran tackled subjects including the homeless, the poor, the elderly, prostitution and the working class. The forty-plus New York Paintings he created present a complex, beautiful insight into real life on the street.
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