Biography
Maya Gelfman (born 1978, Israel) is a visual artist. Her main mediums are installation, painting and street-art.
A graduate of Shenkar Academy in 2006, she’s since had eight solo exhibitions. The 9th is opening in October 2022 in Vienna, Austria.
Among others, she has exhibited at: The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Haifa Museum of Art, National Gallery in Bangkok, By of the People Festival in Washington D.C. (in collaboration with the Smithsonian and the National Cathedral), ArtRooms Art Fair in London, Art Basel Miami, Tama University of Art in Tokyo.
In 2013 Gelfman gave a TEDx talk in Tel Aviv about her artistic process.
Her works have received the attention of the media, both in print and online, as well as in films and on TV.
They were published in two international art books in Germany and France.
And later on this year a third book that focuses on prominent Textile Artists will feature a work by Gelfman, in England, 2022.
She’s a well-known street-artist, where she is best known for her unique technique of drawing with yarn on walls.
In 2015 Paper Magazine named her among the top ten street-artists in Israel.
Gelfman also has a joint public-art project called Mind the Heart! Project.
Along with her partner, Roie Avidan (a photographer and poet), they explore urbanity, wandering and randomness
to see how these concepts impact their artistic practice.
Between 2017-2021 Gelfman & Avidan embarked on an extraordinary performance. They designed it as an "experiment" that required them
to forgo any control over their lives, except for the act of creation. They gave away all their possessions and let strangers dictate their route, budget, schedule and daily encounters, all the while creating site-and-time-specific works that reflect these experiences.
The "Serendipity Experiment" toured the U.S.A. four times for 50,000 miles. Visiting 45 States, meeting thousands of people, exhibiting five exhibitions and giving ten artist talks.
Artist statement
When I was four years old, I had a near death experience while going through an open-heart surgery.
My heart stopped beating, my body temperature went low, and a heart-lung machine kept me alive.
Coming back from that threshold, I knew that opposites are bound together and that I encompass both.
That experience left me fascinated with "edges" - where extremities, that are perceived as opposites, can meet.
My works are born from a simultaneous sense of vertigo and stability. They deal with dichotomies and are shaped by a desire for balance.
I examine the impact of trauma and how forces, "larger-than-life", shape mankind, and more specifically women-kind, since the dawn of time.
I have come to believe that our existential struggle against external forces is essentially an internal one.
The works measure opposing ideas against each other in order to find reconciliation.
Ideas such as - beauty that encompasses crudeness, weakness as a source of strength, and disillusionment that feeds innocence.
And this search for symbiosis is reflected in every aspect of my artistic practice.
The process is informed by schooled and automatic thought, by weaving together layers, techniques and materials, by drawing from both ancient and contemporary culture. The decision to work in two parallel fields - in ‘white cubes’ and in public spaces - stems from the same root.
Allowing the boundaries between daily life and art to become flexible.
A short introduction to the works: installations, paintings and street art.
The installations are often large, handmade with soft materials (yarn and fabric).
The paintings are mixed media, and can be divided into two bodies of work: figurative and abstract.
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The first one is symbolistic; an embroidery of a new mythology in which I am both myself and a symbolic representation of femininity.
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The latter does not attempt to depict a reality but to outline relationships between form, color and shape, as a transformative practice.
The street art is done as a performative, mindfulness practice, created with tangible materials (yarn, duct-tape and treated foam).
Breakdown of painted series:
The early works ("Red Heart", 2007/8 and 2009) are naïve drawings of bodies and situations, subtle yet disturbing. Minimalist figures floating in white spaces.
With time, layers appear ("Illusions & Reality", 2010-2012 and 2013), representing the struggle to resolve past, present and future.
Then the slow Sisyphean process shift into dance-like rituals. ("Release", 2014-2016) The works are done in one continuous session that takes anywhere between a day to three days.
Between 2017-2021 I immersed my life and art in an experimental performance. My partner and I (aka Mind the Heart! Project) traveled across the U.S.
and created site-and-time-specific works in public spaces.
Currently, I’m back in the studio, working on a new series of abstract paintings ("The Unimaginable Horizon", 2021-2022).
Influenced by the shifts of the last five years. these works explore disintegration and reassembly.
CV & Resume
Born 1978 in Israel
Education
Shenkar Academy, BA in visual communication
Solo Exhibitions
2022
The Unimaginable Horizon, AG18 Gallery, Vienna, curator: Dr. Michael Schmitz
2019
Form, Re-Form, AG18 Gallery, Vienna, curator: Dr. Michael Schmitz
2017
Outside looking in, National Art Gallery, Bangkok, Curator: Rattapong
2016
Split Ends, Tel Aviv Artist House. Curator: Raz Samira
2013
Spark, Zadik Gallery, Jaffa, curator: Hana Coman
Process, Tel Aviv City Municipality Arts and Culture division, curator: Maayan Nevo
2012
Rise!, Tsuk Gallery, Netanya, curator: Maya Kashevitz
Heartbeats, Weiss House, Tel Aviv, curators: Vera Pilpoul and Hagit Burnstein
2010
Strings, Artists House, Tel Aviv, curator: Orly Hoffman
Group Exhibitions
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
Vitrinart, The Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
Grand Opening, Milu Gallery Hotel, Florence Italy
2015
Stories the Streets tell, The Israeli Children’s Museum, Holon
Hamekarer, The Old Wholesale Marketplace, Tel Aviv
S2G, kulturkueche, Monchengladbach
Presence, Tirosh Gallery, Tel Aviv
Temporary Crew, St.Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
2014
Slideluck III, Tel Aviv
Launching Meshuna, Meshuna Gallery, Tel Aviv
2013
Testing Tools Festival #10, Beit Tami, Tel Aviv
Note to Selves, Container, Jaffa port
7F, 7th Floor, Tel Aviv
Base Colors #2, Israel-Lebanon border, Activism Art event at IDF military bases
2012
Heroes in Distress, Art Basel, Miami, Overture/Scope art fair
Once I was a House, art event, Caesarea
Small Scale - 20\20, Zadik Gallery, Tel Aviv
Creation Cycle, Hangar 2, Jaffa Port
Free Art Friday, Tel Aviv
Spring Festival, Shapira Neighbourhood, Tel Aviv
Base Colors #1, Israel-Syria border, Activism Art event at IDF military bases
On the Fence #3, Jaffa
Love Art Make Art, Open Studio, Tel Aviv
2011
Haifa Walks, Haifa Museum of Art
ZEMIKEA, Tsuk Gallery, Netanya
Mind the Heart, The Container, Tel Aviv
Sea Breeze, Artist Residency, Bat Yam
On the Fence #2, Jaffa
Mind the Heart, Dining Room, Tel Aviv
Ward Nasse, Ward Nasse Gallery, New York
2010
Cannons & Muses, Tama University of Art, Tokyo
de:frost Festival, Jerusalem
2009
Biennial #2, Herzliya
Secret Art #4, Beit Mani, Tel Aviv
Love Art Make Art, Open Studio, Tel Aviv
Tan, P8 Gallery, Tel Aviv
1.2.3.4 I Declare an Art War, Shorashim Gallery
White Trash, Tel Aviv
2008
It’s a Small Big World, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
2005-2007
Designers of the Future, Tel Aviv, Reading Power Station
International Woman’s Day, Tel Aviv University
Dialogue, Tzavta Theater, Tel Aviv
Collaborations & Public Actions (under Mind the Heart! Project)
2022
SEED, Rosa Foundation, Artist Residency, Krakow, Poland
Looking at Place, Katzman Contemporary, Dover, NH, USA
O/Art, fundraiser for Ukraine, Atlanta-Chattanoga, TN & GA, USA
2021
Introduce Yourself, Kliger Gallery, Lund, Sweden
2019
The Poland Project, Sichow Foundation, Artist Residency, Krakow, Poland
2018
New Poetics of Labor, Al camello camello y al amor amor, Espacio, Medellín, Colombia
MTH! in D.C. at By The People Arts Festival (Smisthonian, National Cathedral, Union Market,
~ Walter Reed & The Arc West, Washington, D.C.)
Bodies of Water, Site specific piece in the University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR
The Spaces Between #1, JCC, Foster City, CA, USA
The Spaces Between #2, PJCC, San Rafael, CA, USA
MTH! in Houston, at the City Hall & Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX
Towards One: Site specific, permanent piece in Building 98, Marfa, TX
2017
Be Here Now, Site specific, permanent piece in Creative Discovery Museum, Chattanooga, TN
MTH! in Hillary R. Clinton Library, Little Rock, AR
MTH! in Atlanta, at The Decatur Art Alliance, Decatur, GA
MTH! in Apopka, at the HCC, Apopka, FL
MTH! in Portsmouth, at Prescott Park & 3S Gallery, Portsmouth, NH
MTH! in Tel Aviv, Pilot for USA Tour at Beit Tami, Tel Aviv, Israel
Publications and Books
2022 Book, "Unravelling Women’s Art" by PL Henderson, England
2018 Book, "Al camello camello y al amor amor" by Cristina Velásquez, Colombia
2016 Book, "Wall, wall" by Dominque Lafon, France
2015 Book, "Street Messages" by Nicholas Ganz, Germany
2013 TEDx TLV Talk: "Creating out of not knowing" - the creation of SPARK Solo Exhibition >> to see the talk
Press & selected articles: www.mayagelfman.com/press
Collections
Historic Building 98. Marfa TX, USA
Creative Discovery Museum, Chattanooga TN, USA
MILU Art Hotel, Florence, Italy
Herzliya Municipal Library, Israel
Lettenmayer & partners, Czech Republic
Goldman, Erlich, Gaver, Edelstein & Co. Law, Israel
M & M. Schmitz, private collection, Austria
R. Saker, private collection, Israel
B. Landa, private collection, Isarel
Hagit Bornstein private collection, Israel
C. Ilan private collection, Israel
A. Rosenfelder, private collection, Israel
K. Damon, private collection, D.C. USA
A. Center, private collection, TN, USA
A. Lapointe, private collection, NH, USA
T. Grayevsky, private collection, WA, USA
O. Shatil, private collection
O. S. Ben Sahar, private collection
S. Weil, private collection, Israel
S. Sternbach, private collection, Israel
J. Smouha, private collection, Israel
Karni-Cohen, private collection, TLV – London
H. Sanders, private collection, CA, USA
J. Raus, private collection, FL, USA
A. Harris, private collection, Israel
M. Nevo-Epelbaum, private collection, Israel
R. Alcalay, private collection, Israel
C. Reichenberg, private collection, Israel
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