MATI GELMAN | SOURCE OF DIVINITY

SOURCE OF DIVINITY
By Mati Gelman

“I have known what it is to be an outsider. A child of Hungary raised in a kibbutz in Israel; an Israeli immigrant in New York. Traversing these cultures as a newcomer was made more tenuous by my commitment to living unapologetically as a queer person.
There is a profound injustice in being othered because of a truthful life, but through my art, I have found beauty in it.
Those who are othered, foreign, or alien are frequently seen as a threat or an interloper. While consistent with my own experience, the wisdom found in the classics provides an alternative narrative. In the pantheon of the ancients, the stranger was often a god in the trappings of mortals. In sacred texts, the traveler may be angelic or prophetic by the story’s end.” – Mati Gelman

Mati Gelman is a self-taught commercial and fine art photographer. Born in Hungary and raised in Israel, he first pursued deep knowledge of the natural world through education, receiving a degree in Biochemistry from the Israel Institute of Technology and Masters of Science in Organic Chemistry from Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv. He transitioned to full-time photography after moving to New York City, where he currently resides. His work explores queerness and human integration with nature through composite and staged photography, evoking feelings of rapture, wonder, and unmooring in equal measure. Once manipulating molecules, now manipulating pixels, his work balances the granular and the grand.
Awards include the UMBRA International Photography Awards, FAPA (Fine Art Photography Awards), and the International Color Photography Contest’s Chromatic Awards, in addition to being a 2021 Finalist of Microsoft’s “Original by Design” competition.
His work has been showcased at “Artsy” and “Dabart” and the “More Art Please,” “Photoplace,” and “SMUSH” galleries.
His work is featured in “Dance Vision” from Abrams Books and “Painting with Light,” which showcases highlights from the last five years of production.
In addition, Mati has been featured in the “Facing Creativity” web series produced by SONY.

“By continually seeking to reveal what truly is- organ, vein, or spirit- I can craft the layers of what’s visible to reveal an ever more profound truth.“

“I have claimed this hope- that those you do not understand may be a source of divinity, not a danger, evolution, not erosion- and infused it into my work as a wholly ancient and modern assertion that not only affirms my own valid existence but invites the broader culture to see all outsiders with the kindness of possibility and generosity of hospitality. This neo-neo-classical approach elevates my subject through celestial treatment with a rich palette and organic forms. Organic is not just in fluidity and effusion but also in the molecular and chemical base.
My work, while otherworldly, is grounded in the material by my love of the natural sciences.
As a chemist by training (MS), my vision of the world is indelibly shaped by my knowledge of its substance.
By continually seeking to reveal what truly is- organ, vein, or spirit- I can craft the layers of what’s visible to reveal an ever more profound truth.”

“In pursuing a panoramic vision of the minuscule and mighty, both may be brought to life through photographic composites that blend physical reality with fine artistry in post-processing. It is both my hand and heart’s work- as a lifetime of patience and growth has taught me to composite my own identity so that I might live both grounded and ascended.
Literal and liberated. The foreigner, the neighbor. The lover, the ostracized. The scientist, the artist. The then and the now.
May you see yourself in the natural and supernatural of this work; may you be affirmed of your own worth in its reflecting pool; and may you do the same for every stranger you meet.”

See the full article in Art Market Magazine Issue #79