Biography
Maya Gelfman, b.1978, a Nomad since 2017, (based in the U.S.A. & the E.U.).
From painting to installation, performance to street-art, Gelfman’s work has exhibited extensively. With eleven solo exhibitions under her belt, six international residencies, and dozens of group shows. Her works were featured at the the 60th Venice Biennale, Italy (2024), the Zuckerman Museum of Art, USA (2024), the National Gallery, Thailand (2017), the Israel National Museum (2016), Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Haifa Museum of Art, and art fairs in London, Monaco, Brussels, Miami, and Washington D.C.
Graduated from Shenkar School of Art & Design (2006). Notable residency programs include the SAPH (China) and Windgate (USA), and was shortlisted for the Halcyon Fellowship (2019). Her work was published in the media and in international art-books (in London, Germany, France, Colombia and USA), and can be found in private and public collections, including Lettenmayer & partners, Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Creative Discovery Museum, Historic Building 98, Milu Hotel, R. Saker, H. Borenstein, and Goldman, Erlich, Gaver, Edelstein & Co. Law.
Beyond institutional spaces, she gave a TEDx talk on her intentional practice (2013). She co-founded 'Mind the Heart!' Project (2009), together with Roie Avidan. A street-art project that has reached over 100 cities globally. In 2017 they chose to become nomads. They embarked on The Serendipity Experiment, a public performance committed to “Saying Yes”. Strangers they met on the road sent them on a winding route across North America, spanning four years and 100,000 km. They have been on the move ever since.
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Gelfman uses her body to investigate transformation - a drive that is fueled by a childhood near-death experience, (during a heart surgery). Her practice draws inspiration from Fluxus, Action Painting, Improv Theory, and Mindfulness Meditation. It's somatic, immersive and deliberately spontaneous:
large canvases are laid on the floor, as she moves on top. Brushstrokes are synchronized with breaths, sounds navigate the hands and feet, textures emerge from the landscape, the time of day, the season. Her works are psycho-geographic explorations: mapping the places she inhabits, both physically and emotionally. This too harkens back to personal history, born to a family of immigrants that had fled from Moldova (at the time, the USSR) to Israel, movement and impermanence are in her foundational makeup. She investigates fragility, resilience, balance, decay and beauty.
Statment
Art making happens not only with my hands and eyes, but also with my ears, skin, gut, breath.
My paintings are maps, thresholds, passageways. They trace physical and emotional shifts, in the places and times I inhabit. Through a slow, somatic process, I allow the boundaries between self, environment, and medium to dissolve. I move between observer and participant, acting as both the surface and the mark-maker. Built layer by layer, each work develops through a direct dialogue with its environment to record a transient event. In attempting to capture a place's essence, it inevitably reveals my presence within that fleeting moment.
My fascination with the "immediate", is visceral and deeply personal. Teetering between life and death at the age of four, (during a heart surgery), introduced me early to impermanence. It compelled me to explore the dichotomies inherent in existence, and fuels the totality with which I create to this day. It also informed two major decisions: working across diverse fields (the white cubes, the streets, and in nature), and merging my artistic and meditative practices into a nomadic way of life.
Movement across continents, mediums, and contexts facilitates and propels my practice. Change is balanced with mindfulness, and together they provide a flexible foundation. From there I can go in and out, to explore the meeting points between internal and external landscapes. I notice the frictions as well as the possible pathways toward connection, equilibrium, agency, and release. Every new place drives the work and vice versa. Each project becomes a temporary refuge, and a stage where the ephemeral takes shape. And while this process results in tangible artworks, its essence remains performative: art and life exist in the act of perceiving and creating, and in their inherent impermanence.
Breakdown of series & Techniques
My technique is mixed-media. I integrate fine-art and industrial materials and tools. The paintings are made with means that are typically used for building walls or laying floor tiles, as much as soft watercolor brushes, pallet knives, print rollers and metal scrapers. Acrylic paints, inks and markers are mixed with various mediums such as glazing liquid, conditioner and silicone oil, substances that impact the behavior of the pigments in unexpected ways. For the Installations, both indoors and outdoors the list continues: wool, fabric, treated foam, duct-tape, cloths hangers and found objects.
Early works
In my time as a student, the early works ("Red Heart", 2007/8 and 2009) were naïve, minimalistic drawings. Bodies and situations, subtle yet disturbing. Figures floating in white spaces. After graduating and over time, extra layers appeared ("Illusions & Reality", 2010-2012 and 2013),
representing the struggle to grow and resolve past, present and future. In these formative years, I practiced a slow Sisyphean process in which every piece took months. Then a change took place, and my practice shifted into a quick, dance-like ritual. ("Release", 2014-2016). These paintings were done in one continuous session, each session lasting between a day to three days of constant work, stopping only for food and short stints of sleep.
The Serendipity Experiment 2017-2021
Between 2017 to 2021 I was immersed in an experimental performance, together with my partner in Mind The Heart! Project. Our premise was to accept the unknown as an artistic tool, by committing fully to relinquishing control. We followed the first rule of Improv theater - SAY YES. For this purpose, we donated all our belongings, moved to live in a van in a foreign country, and invited strangers to dictate our route, schedule, and next encounters. At each point we were sent to, we created public works, daily. What was planned for one year ended up lasting four, spanning more than 60,000 miles (100,000 km) in 48 states across the U.S.A. as well as other countries.
The Unimaginable Horizon 2021-2026 (ongoing)
Living on the road for four years (of which two in the pandemic), while committing to the totality which the performance necessitated, heralded another big shift in my process. Returning to a normative studio setting in late 2021 uncovered the tantalizing realization that previous inspirations and techniques now felt irrelevant. I couldn’t just pick up from where I left off. The journey had fundamentally changed the way I perceived stability, home, possessions, necessity. It altered the way I lived and subsequently, the way I created.
It felt crucial to allow the full breadth of my experiences to manifest directly onto the canvas, and these experiences were too expansive to fit into figurative works, such as the ones I created before. My previous areas of research, such as archetypes and mythologies, felt more like crutches than points of reference. Free from the need to adhere to one "coherent" idea or to convey a comprehensible image, an uninhibited expression was unleashed and with it, a flood of intuitive works.
Since the breakthrough in 2021 and to this day, I have been painting continuously. Across and places, Italy, France, China and more. These works are a form of cartography: to places familiar and unknown, to blocked paths and to new roads.
Site & Time Specific
A word about the creative process unique to their making: these are 'embodied' works. Done through a sensory and deliberately spontaneous process that is akin to performance. Somatic tools are deployed to engage with my surroundings, and let the input inform artistic decisions. Large canvases are spread out on the floor while I move on top, leaving colorful traces that mark the movement through space, brushstrokes are synchronized with breathing, the sounds coming in through the window navigate the hands, colors and textures are informed by the landscape, the time of day or night, the season.
Particles 2025- 2026 (ongoing).
A new, ongoing, series of very small paintings (10x10cm / 4”/4”). The inspiration for these works came from considering the behavior of cells in an organism. Specifically the part of splitting from a larger whole and going through stages of separation, individuation, even mutation. Each work begins as a fragment, cut from a larger foundational structure. Separated from a bigger composition, or a mother-tapestry if you will. Every such “cell” drifts away, to continue its own evolution while still carrying within it the pulse of its source.
Selecting and cutting away each piece I find that they already stand on their own, cohesive in their own way, but I continue to add more and more layers: glazes, stains, lines, shapes and forms. The process of accumulating individual layers goes on until each and every piece feels endemic and complete. The end result is a fractal (of sorts), being a part of a world that contains the world: all the while separating from a unified body. These works form quiet constellations, between families of origin and distinctive individuals, whose singularity only deepens the sense of an underlying, ancient unity. And it is by establishing this tension, or rather this tentative balance, that each cell becomes itself - "Actualized" in its singular potential.
Public Performance 2011- 2023.
Most of these pieces were created as part of Mind the Heart! Project, as a collaboration with Roie Avidan. The photos are excerpts from the performance that took place, the tangible evidence of a transient event. Created in varied locations in the aftermath of natural or manmade disasters, they aim to serve as symbolic rituals. To reflect upon the echoes of a place, past and present. To become a dialogue with wounds, fears and hopes.
C.V.
Education
Graduated from Shenkar School of Art & Design, BA, 2006
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Neither Here Nor There, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA, 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, TLV Artist House, Tel Aviv
2013
Spark, Zadik Gallery, Jaffa
Process, Tel Aviv City Municipality Arts and Culture division, Tel Aviv
2012
Rise!, Tsuk Gallery, Netanya
Heartbeats, Weiss House, Tel Aviv
2010
Strings, Artists House, Tel Aviv
Duo Exhibitions
2025
Accumulation of Horizons, Les ateleirs Lalande & Coercore, Paris, France
The Gaze, 3.1 L'espace Liminal, Saissac, France
The Realm of Darkness has many Colors, 3.1 L'espace Liminal, Saissac, France
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
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, Mönchengladbach, Germany
Presence, Tirosh Gallery, Tel Aviv
Temporary Crew, St.Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
2014
Slideluck III, Tel Aviv, Israel
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, 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
Small Scale - 20\20, Zadik Gallery, Tel Aviv
Creation Cycle, Hangar 2, Jaffa Port
Free Art Friday, Tel Aviv
Spring Festival, Shapira neighborhood, Tel Aviv
Base Colors #1, Israel-Syria border, Peace & Activism Art event
On the Fence #3, Jaffa
Love Art Make Art, Open Studio, Tel Aviv
2011
Haifa Walks, Haifa Museum of Art
ZEMIKEA, Tsuk Gallery, Netanya
Simu Lev!, The Container, Tel Aviv
Sea Breeze, Artist Residency, Bat Yam
On the Fence #2, Jaffa
Simu Lev!, Dining Room, Tel Aviv
Ward Nasse, Ward Nasse Gallery, New York, USA
2010
Cannons & Muses, Tama University of Art, Tokyo, Japan
De:frost Festival, Jerusalem
2009
Herzliya 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, Israel
2008
It’s a Small Big World, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
2005-2007
Designers of the Future, Reading Power Station, Tel Aviv
International Woman’s Day, Tel Aviv University
Dialogue, Tzavta Theater, Tel Aviv
Residencies
2027
Bloomstead Farm Residency, Davie, FL, USA (dates TBD)
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)
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" - to see the talk
* Curitorial texts - to read the texts
Selected collections, (public & private)
Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA
Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai
Lettenmayer & partners, Czech Republic
Goldman, Erlich, Gaver, Edelstein & Co. Law
Historic Building 98. Marfa TX
Creative Discovery Museum, Chattanooga TN
Core Dance, Atlanta, GA
Milu Art Hotel, Florence
Magdas Hotel, Vienna
Herzliya Municipal Library
M & M Schmitz, Vienna
R. Saker, Caesarea
B. Landa, Tel Aviv
O. Shatil, Tel Aviv
S. Sternbach, Tel Aviv
H. Bornstein, Tel Aviv
R. Alcalay, Tel Aviv
A. Lalande, France
C. Archechi, Italy