About the Artist:
Eli Portman was born and raised in the Greater Boston area. He graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a Bachelors Degree in studio art in 2014.
Portman has created murals and custom artwork for Starbucks, Walmart, General Electric, Salem State University, the Punto Urban Art Museum, the Downtown Boston BID and the City of Boston, and displayed his work in the Fountain Street Gallery, the Selfless Art Gallery, The Torosiete Gallery, the Umass Boston Harbor Arts Gallery, the Spring Bull Gallery, and more. He is a member of the Copley Society of Art, and regularly has his illustrations published in various media. Portman helped create the largest watercolor painting on record with a traveling Holocaust history exhibit in 2024, and was featured on the GBH Community Canvas in 2025.
Portman has created murals and custom artwork for Starbucks, Walmart, General Electric, Salem State University, the Punto Urban Art Museum, the Downtown Boston BID and the City of Boston, and displayed his work in the Fountain Street Gallery, the Selfless Art Gallery, The Torosiete Gallery, the Umass Boston Harbor Arts Gallery, the Spring Bull Gallery, and more. He is a member of the Copley Society of Art, and regularly has his illustrations published in various media. Portman helped create the largest watercolor painting on record with a traveling Holocaust history exhibit in 2024, and was featured on the GBH Community Canvas in 2025.
Statement:
I am fascinated with the concept of perception. Many experiences in my life have made me feel quite alone. In those moments, I feel unique in the way that I perceive things. And yet at the same time, I strongly believe that we as human beings share many experiences, many thoughts, feelings, and reactions.
With my work, I approach the dissonance between perceived unique individual solitude in a crowded environment, and the commonness and sameness of such feelings.
Using detailed line work and heavy colors, I illustrate moments of 'unique' isolation that we all share. The feeling of walking alone while viewing social excitement through nighttime windows, or working while others play to their contentment.
With controlled ink lines, I capture shadows and lights. Familiar angles, familiar feelings brought on by time of day or night, placement and presence in one’s environment. I manipulate the openness and tightness of visual spaces and interiors to reflect the claustrophobia of society's open space and the endless emptiness of being crowded and crushed.
With strong colors, I attract the viewer’s eyes to specific spaces within the composition, reminding them of their own perceptions of environment, and that I, like them, find myself in there too. By capturing these scenes, I present the commonality between them and me. Though they do not know me, we are united by the sameness of the humanity we all share.
The art exhibitions that affect me most strongly are the ones that remind me of myself. Of what I love, of what I find beautiful, and of what I fear. We are always looking for a certain degree of reflections of ourselves. In images, in friends, in pets, in communities, in romantic partners. With my artwork, I attempt to bridge the gaps of solitude by harnessing that innate search for our reflections. With familiar scenes, bright colors, and fine details of everyday objects and structures, I create scenes that are familiar in their individuality.
With my work, I approach the dissonance between perceived unique individual solitude in a crowded environment, and the commonness and sameness of such feelings.
Using detailed line work and heavy colors, I illustrate moments of 'unique' isolation that we all share. The feeling of walking alone while viewing social excitement through nighttime windows, or working while others play to their contentment.
With controlled ink lines, I capture shadows and lights. Familiar angles, familiar feelings brought on by time of day or night, placement and presence in one’s environment. I manipulate the openness and tightness of visual spaces and interiors to reflect the claustrophobia of society's open space and the endless emptiness of being crowded and crushed.
With strong colors, I attract the viewer’s eyes to specific spaces within the composition, reminding them of their own perceptions of environment, and that I, like them, find myself in there too. By capturing these scenes, I present the commonality between them and me. Though they do not know me, we are united by the sameness of the humanity we all share.
The art exhibitions that affect me most strongly are the ones that remind me of myself. Of what I love, of what I find beautiful, and of what I fear. We are always looking for a certain degree of reflections of ourselves. In images, in friends, in pets, in communities, in romantic partners. With my artwork, I attempt to bridge the gaps of solitude by harnessing that innate search for our reflections. With familiar scenes, bright colors, and fine details of everyday objects and structures, I create scenes that are familiar in their individuality.
Notable Shows:
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Untitled,
Newton Free Library, Newton, MA
2022
Shuttle Buses Available: A City Series, Emerging Gallery, Boston City Hall
A City in 7 Years, Jamaica Plain Public Library, Jamaica Plain, MA
2020
City Lines and Natural Colors, Honan Allston Branch, Boston Public Library, Allston, MA
2018
Featured Artist
VisionSpace Gallery, Lynn MA
2017
Budding Growth from Cracks in Pavement
Newton Library, Newton MA
Eyes Above Ground
Harbor Gallery, UMass Boston, Dorchester MA
Ink Forgotten
North Eastern Crossing, Roxbury Crossing, MA
2016
Wayward Son
Lab Central, Cambridge, MA
2015
Faltering Wonder
Coldwell Banker, Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA
Wandering Descent
Tufts Health Plan, Watertown, MA
2014
Ink Stains
Brookline Library, Main branch, Brookline, MA
Duo Exhibitions:
2024
Structural Integrity with Adam O'Day
Machines with Magnets, Pawtucket RI
Roam with Margarita Krylova
Fenway Gallery, Boston MA
Group Exhibitions:
2024
The Multifaceted Journey towards Inner Balance and Peace
Selfless Gallery, Tribeca, New York City, NY
Massachusetts
Curation 250 Gallery, Lowell, MA
2023
Annex Show,
Fountain Street Gallery Annex, Sowa, Boston, MA
2019-2023
Series of Copley Society of Art's Group Exhibitions, Back Bay, Boston, MA
2019
Annual Group Show and Art Auction,
Massachusetts College of Art and Design,
Boston, MA
2017,2018,2022
Fay Chandler Emerging Art Exhibition
Boston City Hill, Boston, MA
2017
Junction
Harvard Ed Portal, Allston, MA
2016
Noir
Uforge Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA
Winter Display
Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA
2015
Galatea Fine Art Gallery NE Collective VI
South end, Boston, MA
Raw Boston Expo
Malden, MA
2014
Newton Art Association Wedeman Show
Wedeman Gallery, Lasell College, Newton, MA
Newton Art Association James King Bonnar Show
New Art Center, Newton, MA
Light, Form and Shadow
Spool Mfg. Gallery, Johnson City, NY
2013
Out Of Reach
Jungle Science Gallery, Binghamton, NY
Press:
"My Instagram: Eli Portman. Local Artist Feature"
Lillian Brown, Globe Correspondent
Boston Globe, May 4th 2019
"Eli Portman: Urban Adventurer"
Keith Tomlin, Co-Founder, Torosiete Magazine, Torosiete Press, March 2017
Books:
Illustrations for Picture Book, A Winning Ticket On Queens Boulevard, written by Author Janet Linder
The Bright-Eyed Adventurer Wanders Among the Lights in the Dark, A Collection. Published by Torosiete Press
Memberships
2014 Newton Art Association
2016, 2019-2022 Copley Society of Art