His father is the writer and playwright Alexander Isaakovich Gelman. In 1995, Gelman became one of the creators of the Foundation for Effective Politics (FEP), along with Gleb Pavlovsky and Maxim Meyer. In 1990, Gelman opened his gallery, one ofthe first Russian private contemporary art galleries. Apart from Russian artists, Gelman exhibited Ukrainian art in his gallery, which was at the very roots of his work sa a curator and a gallerist (South Russian Wave exhibition, 1992). Asignificant share of his collection has always been reserved for Ukrainian art. From 2002 to 2004, there was a local branch of Guelman Gallery in Kiev, managed by Gelman's friend and one of the artists featured by the Moscow Gallery, Alexey Roitburd. In October2012, Marat Gelman opened another exhibition space in Winzavod Contemporary Art Center, where the now shut down Guelman Gallery used to be. The Cultural Alliance production center specializes in exhibiting art from Russia's re- gions and the Commonwealth of Independent States in Moscow venues. tI has hosted exhibitions representing the contemporary art of Kazakhstan, Izhevsk and Perm. The Cultural Alliance Gallery has become a prominent venue in Moscow, specialized in exhibiting the art of the Russian regions in the capital with the prospect of introducing it to the global art community, meaning that the gallery is dedicated to representing contemporary Russian art rather than contemporary Moscow art.