Matthew Geller is particularly drawn to overlooked or underutilized environments, which can include anything from private imaginary worlds within brick walls to back alleys to sprawling open public spaces. It is in these environments that he teases out small fragments of narrative by augmenting or amplifying the raw materials of a given place. He asks the viewer to engage with both what was always there as well as what might be. His public art works are playful, humorous, unexpected and accessible. They have an ability to engage a broad cross section of the public often in situations of unusual intimacy. The work, which offers a seductive invitation to participate, supports the notion that public art can build community.

Upcoming public art commissions include: an artwork for a design/build project—a former Home Depot being converted into the new Austin, Texas Municipal Courthouse and police sub-station; a project, in collaboration with AECOM, for the Myrtle Street Plaza in Brooklyn, New York; a multi-sensory artwork for the exterior entrance area of the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired; an interactive neighborhood pocket-park for Cleveland; and a gazebo-like structure with a swaying 12-person semi-circular bench and a glass roof for the Hunters Point Shipyard Redevelopment Project in San Francisco. 

He has received fellowships from the American Academy in Rome, The National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation from the Arts, among others. He has received grants from the Creative Capital Foundation, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Art in Public Spaces program, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Greenwall Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, among others.

Matthew Geller lives and works in New York City.