ENTRY DESCRIPTION
I believe one of the most fragile concepts in the modern world is that of masculinity. It is so very delicate and fragile that it can easily fall apart and never recover. One light breeze from the wrong direction and it’s gone. Never redeemed. If a gay man is interested in 10 people, and 9 of them are men, but one of them is a woman, no one would question for a second that he is gay. However, if a straight man is interested in 10 people, and 9 of them are women, but one of them is a man, he is automatically tagged as “at least” being bisexual. He can NEVER recover his heterosexuality, even though 99.9% of the sex he has had has been with women. I believe that the most self-repressed group of people in western culture is heterosexual men. It must be so spectacularly stressful to eternally maintain that image of perfect masculinity. I wonder how that stress manifests in different social scenarios. I also wonder what it would look like if it did not exist and all men could do whatever they felt like without feeling obligated to abide by the social rules that dictate whether they are, in fact, “straight” or not.

AUTHOR
Gelman, born in Hungary and raised in Israel, relocated to New York City in 2016, where he continued his education in photography at ICP and the Pratt Institute. Originally a biochemist, he left science to pursue art- a language that allows him to navigate between the real and surreal.

The young artist fuses photography and digital painting, using image manipulation techniques to create unique dark and whimsical imagery. His technique enables visuals, previously only in his mind, to come together through dynamic postures and dark colors. Gelman aspires to tell an entire story with a single image.

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