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Short Biography & Statement

Maya Gelfman

Born in 1978 to a family of immigrants that had fled from Moldova (at the time, the USSR) to Israel. 

She has been a nomad since 2017. It’s both a life-choice and an artistic practice. Her work is rooted in “site and time specific” methodologies: facilitated by movement and change, propelled by a commitment to impermanence. 

From painting to installation, performance to street-art, she uses the body to investigate transformation, fragility, resilience,

beauty and decay. Her practice is deliberately spontaneous. Without a predetermined narrative, each work evolves in direct response to the environment. In a process that entails total immersion, she uses somatic techniques to engage with the sensory field around and within her: brushstrokes synchronize with breath, sound navigates the gestures of hands and feet, colors and textures emerge from the landscape, the time of day, the season. In this slow, performative process she serves as an observer and a participant. 

 

Her aproach draws inspiration from Fluxus, action painting, improv theory, and meditation. 

But the fascination with the immediate and the visceral is also deeply personal. A near-death experience at age four 

and the long recovery that followed instilled in her an embodied understanding of impermanence. 

It fueled the urgency and totality with which she creates today.

Since graduating with a BA from Shenkar Art Academy (2006), Gelfman’s work has exhibited extensively. 

With eleven solo exhibition under her belt and dozens of group shows, including at the 60th Venice Biennale, Italy (2024), 

the Zuckerman Museum of Art, USA (2024), the National Gallery, Thailand (2017), the Israel National Museum (2016), 

and art fairs in London, Miami, and Washington D.C. 

She participated in six residencies including SAPH (China) and Windgate (USA), and was shortlisted for the Halcyon Fellowship 

(2019). Her work was published in the media, in international art-books (in London, Germany, france, Colombia and USA), 

and can be found in private and public collections, including Lettenmayer & partners, Rivka Saker, Swatch Art Peace Hotel,

Zuckerman Museum of Art, Creative Discovery Museum, Historic Building 98, Milu Hotel.

 

Beyond institutional spaces, she co-founded 'Mind the Heart!'  (2009), a street-art project that has reached over 100 cities globally.

In 2013, she gave a TEDx talk on her intentional practice. In 2017, inspired by fluxes and improv theory, she created The Serendipity Experiment, a public performance spanning four years and 100,000 km across North America.

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CV / Resume

Education

Graduated from Shenkar School of Art & Design, BA, 2006

 

Solo Exhibitions

2024    Neither Here Nor There, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, Georgia, USA

2023    Bodies of Work, ONKAF Gallery, New Delhi, India

2022    The Unimaginable Horizon, AG18 Gallery, Vienna, Austria

2019    Form, Re-Form, AG18 Gallery, Vienna, Austria

2017    Outside looking in, National Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

2016    Split Ends, Tel Aviv Artist House, Israel

2013    Spark, Zadik Gallery, Jaffa, Israel

            Process, Tel Aviv City Municipality Arts and Culture division, Israel

2012    Rise!, Tsuk Gallery, Netanya, Israel

            Heartbeats, Weiss House, Tel Aviv, Israel

2010    Strings, Artists House, Tel Aviv, Israel


Group Exhibitions

2024    Strangers Everywhere (Swatch Pavilion), Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy

            Twenty Four Windows, Fifth Floor Gallery, SAPH, Shanghai, China

2023    Pole Culturel de la Manufacture, The Royal Manufactory, Montolieu, France

2019    Metamorphosis: The Place of the Past in the Present, CITYarts, Orlando, FL, USA

2017    ARTROOMS, Meliá White House, London, England

            Radical Love, Crypt Gallery, London, England

2016    Wire/less Connections, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

            Vitrinart, The Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

            Grand Opening, Milu Gallery Hotel, Florence, Italy

2015    Stories the Streets tell, The Israeli Children’s Museum, Holon, Israel

            Hamekarer, The Old Wholesale Marketplace, Tel Aviv, Israel

S2G,    kulturkueche, Mönchengladbach, Germany

            Presence, Tirosh Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

            Temporary Crew, St.Art Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

2014    Slideluck III, Tel Aviv, Israel

            Launching Meshuna, Meshuna Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

​2013​    Testing Tools Festival #10, Beit Tami, Tel Aviv, Israel

            Note to Selves, Container, Jaffa port, Israel

            7F, 7th Floor, Tel Aviv, Israel

            Base Colors #2, IIsrael-Lebanon border, Peace & Activism Art event

​​2012​    Heroes in Distress, Art Basel, Miami, Overture/Scope art fair, USA

            Once I was a House, art event, Caesarea, Israel
            Small Scale - 20\20, Zadik Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

            Creation Cycle, Hangar 2, Jaffa Port, Israel

            Free Art Friday, Tel Aviv, Israel

            Spring Festival, Shapira neighborhood, Tel Aviv, Israel

            Base Colors #1, Israel-Syria border, Peace & Activism Art event

            On the Fence #3, Jaffa, Israel

            Love Art Make Art, Open Studio, Tel Aviv, Israel

​​2011    Haifa Walks, Haifa Museum of Art, Israel

            ZEMIKEA, Tsuk Gallery, Netanya, Israel

            Simu Lev!, The Container, Tel Aviv, Israel
            Sea Breeze, Artist Residency, Bat Yam, Israel

            On the Fence #2, Jaffa, Israel
            Simu Lev!, Dining Room, Tel Aviv, Israel
            Ward Nasse, Ward Nasse Gallery, New York, USA

​2010    Cannons & Muses, Tama University of Art, Tokyo, Japan
            De:frost Festival, Jerusalem, Israel

​2009    Herzliya Biennial #2, Herzliya, Israel

            Secret Art #4, Beit Mani, Tel Aviv, Israel
            Love Art Make Art, Open Studio, Tel Aviv, Israel

            Tan, P8 Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
            1.2.3.4 I Declare an Art War, Shorashim Gallery, Israel

            White Trash, Tel Aviv, Israel

​2008    It’s a Small Big World, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel

​​2005-2007  Designers of the Future, Tel Aviv, Reading Power Station, Israel

            International Woman’s Day, Tel Aviv University, Israel

            Dialogue, Tzavta Theater, Tel Aviv, Israel

 

Residencies

2023    Swatch Art Peace Hotel Residency, Shanghai, China (June-September)

            Windgate Residency, KSU University, GA, USA (September-October)

            Core Dance Company, Atlanta, USA (April-May)

2022    Roza Center for International and Interdisciplinary Art, Krakow, Poland (June)

2019    The Sichow Foundation, Krakow, Poland (Feb)

2019    Halcyon House fellowship, Shortlisted.

Collaborations & Public Actions (under Mind the Heart! Project)

2023    Wishing Wall, mural & masterclasses, Georgia Highlands College, Cartersville, GE, USA

            MTH! in Kennesaw, masterclasses, School of Art, Kennesaw, GA, USA         

            Mantra, mural, Core Dance, Atlanta, GE, USA

2022    SEED & NTTL, mural & performance, Rosa Foundation, Krakow, Poland

            Looking at Place, exhibition, Katzman Contemporary, Dover, NH, USA

            O/Art, fundraiser for Ukraine, Atlanta-Chattanooga, TN & GA, USA

2021    Introduce Yourself, exhibition, Kliger Gallery, Lund, Sweden

2019    The Poland Project, mural & performance, Sichow Foundation, Artist Residency, Krakow, Poland

2018    New Poetics of Labor, Al camello camello y al amor amor, exhibition, Espacio, Medellín, Colombia

MTH! in D.C., event, By The People Arts Festival (Smithsonian, National Cathedral, Union Market, Walter Reed,

           Arc West, D.C., USA

            Bodies of Water, permanent installation & masterclasses, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR, USA

            The Spaces Between #1, exhibition, JCC, Foster City, CA, USA

            The Spaces Between #2, exhibition & mural,  PJCC, San Rafael, CA, USA

            MTH! in Houston, exhibition, City Hall & Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX, USA

            Towards One, permanent installation, Building 98, Marfa, TX, USA

2017    Be Here Now, permanent installation, Creative Discovery Museum, Chattanooga, TN, USA

            MTH! in Hillary R. Clinton Library, event, Little Rock, AR, USA

            MTH! in Atlanta, exhibition, Decatur Art Alliance, Decatur, GA, USA

            MTH! in Apopka, permanent installation, HCC, Apopka, FL, USA

            MTH! in Portsmouth, exhibition, Prescott Park & 3S Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, USA

            MTH! in Tel Aviv, Pilot for USA Tour at Beit Tami, Tel Aviv, Israel

​Publications and Books

2022    "Unravelling Women’s Art, by PL Henderson, Aurora Metro books, England

2018    "Al camello camello y al amor amor" by Cristina Velásquez, NPOL, Colombia

2016    "Wall, wall" by Dominque Lafon, France

2015    "Street Messages" by Nicholas Ganz, Dokument Press, Germany

2013    TEDx TLV Talk: "Creating out of not knowing"- the creation of SPARK Solo Exhibition >> to see the talk 

* Curitorial texts: www.mayagelfman.com/curatorial-texts >> to read the texts 

Press & selected articles: www.mayagelfman.com/press

Selected collections

Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA, USA

Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, China

Lettenmayer & partners, Czech Republic

​Goldman, Erlich, Gaver, Edelstein & Co. Law, Israel

Historic Building 98. Marfa TX, USA

Creative Discovery Museum, Chattanooga TN, USA

MILU Art Hotel, Florence, Italy

Magdas Hotel, Vienna, Austria

Herzliya Municipal Library, Israel

M & M Schmitz, Vienna Austria

R. Saker, Caesarea, Israel

O. Shatil, Tel Aviv, Israel

S. Sternbach, Tel Aviv, Israel

H. Bornstein, Tel Aviv, Israel

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