FAKIR MUSAFAR

"C-Clamp Shaman, Self Portrait", 1964, Edition 25

11x14 Silver Gelatin Photograph
Call For Price (323) 934-2250

16x20 Silver Gelatin Photograph
Call For Price (323) 934-2250

Fakir Musafar
Spirit + Flesh

April 11, through May 18, 2002

Reception for the Photographer:
Thursday, April 11, 2002 - 7 to 9 pm

The Fahey/Klein Gallery is pleased to present the photographs of Fakir Musafar in his first exhibition in Los Angeles. Fakir considers himself a shaman, artist, master piercer and body modifier. This exhibition of self portraits and portraits of others is "an amazing compilation of images that underscore a peculiar beauty with the sheer wonderment of body/spirit interplay."

"Fakir Musafar is known worldwide for his fifty years of research and personal exploration of primitive body decoration and rituals. Widely known as the father of the modern primitive movement. Fakir has introduced concepts and practices for the "body first" approach to exploring spirituality in art/body modifications…Fakir has played a significant role in the revival of body related-practices for personal expression, spiritual exploration, rites of passage, healing and reclaiming." (Arena Editions Catalogue, Spring 2002)

"One night in a small house on the South Dakota plains, a boy later known as Fakir Musafar went down to the basement and lashed himself to a coal bin wall. His parents were away for the night, and a long-dreamed-of plan could at last be realized. First he hammered heavy metal staples into the battered wood, making the outline of a human body. Next he tied his limbs and torso into the frame, laboriously immobilizing himself inch by inch until only his hands were free. Then he secured them, too, with the use of cleverly designed hooks. Finally, the gray room fell silent. The only sound the seventeen-year-old heard was his own heartbeat, as tides of numbness slowly advanced up his body.

Minutes became hours. Dreamy sensations grew dark and suffocating until finally there was no feeling at all. Even the methodical thudding of blood stopped. The youth wondered if he was dying. Suddenly he was jolted by a snapping noise, followed by a high-pitched humming sound - and then nothing. That's when the visions began. He saw his own body hanging limply on the coal bin wall and realized that while inert, it was not dead. In fact, he was able to roam at will, a disembodied consciousness free of time and space. There was no fear, only joyous liberation. A flash of insight revealed time as being measurable only when one is in the body - but now he was outside of his." (Mark Thompson, "Fakir Musafar - Spirit + Flesh" Introduction, Arena Editions, 2002)

Inserting daggers through holes in the chest; lying on a bed of nails; balancing the entire weight of one's body on the sharp edge of a machete; hanging from metal hooks inserted through the chest; may be called masochistic, but masochism and pain are words that are not considered pejorative to Fakir.

These amazing feats and physical transformations go beyond suffering of the body. "The long course of modifying his body has created inward changes. Apparent acts of mutilation were not negating the realm of the flesh, as many suppose but represented a proud claim of ownership." Fakir states, "the human body is one's own perfect vessel to inner peace." (Mark Thompson, "Fakir Musafar - Spirit + Flesh" Introduction, Arena Editions, 2002)

Born in 1930 on what was then an Indian reservation, Fakir is a Depression baby from Aberdeen, South Dakota. He studied electrical engineering at Northern State University in South Dakota then earned a master's degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University. Over the years Fakir's eclectic occupations have included: instructor in demolitions and explosives, Arthur Murray ballroom dance instructor, and he has held executive positions in San Francisco advertising agencies. Fakir Musafar currently lectures, offers piercing and branding classes, and performs shaman body rituals.

This exhibition contains images, which may not be suitable for all viewers.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm