BOAZ VAADIA: SCULPTURE 1971-2015
Front cover: The Family, 2008. Bronze, boulder, and bluestone, 74 x 115 x 115 inches. Edition of 5 + 1 A/P. Temporary Installation, Boca Raton, Florida.
Boaz Vaadia (b 1951, Israel) is an internationally known sculptor who works primarily in stone and bronze. Based in New York City since 1975, his studio is located in Brooklyn. Vaadia exhibits widely in galleries nationally and abroad. His work is sited in museums and private collections throughout the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA, the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Japan, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel, and Time Warner Center, NY.
Asaf and Yo’ah, 2000. Bluestone and boulder, 78 x 110 x 80 inches. Permanent installation, Time Warner Center, New York, NY.
At the age of 23, Vaadia traveled from his family’s small farm in Israel to fulfill an America-Israel Cultural Foundation grant in New York, and found himself immersed in the artistic hub of 1970s SoHo. His early abstract works were seen as akin to fetish objects or ceremonial structures, but in short time he discovered the materials that would guide his work thereafter -- bluestone pavement from the city’s streets and slate roofing tiles, both of which were being discarded during New York’s process of urban renewal. Working with time developed a completely unique solution to figuration, individually hewing each layer and stacking them into a stratified form.
David and Yonatan, 1998. Bluestone, 108 x 94 x 48 inches. Permanent installation, collection of Ravinia Sculpture Park, Highland Park, IL.
Vaadia recognized that his chosen materials limited what could be built with them, and by respecting the structural properties of bluestone slabs, he created an artistic restriction for himself: each one of his sculptures must be able to stand and to hold together bound only by the force of gravity (though ultimately bolted together for safety and permanency). As a result, he has knowingly limited himself to stable, compact poses, and a generalized human form that alludes to Easter Island moai, Egyptian Pharonic sculpture, and Buddhist repose. These figures are inwardly absorbed; they project calm, perhaps because they are conceived with the intentional use of counterbalanced forces at rest.
Elyaqim 2nd, 2005. Bronze, bluestone, and boulder, 50 x 75 x 75 inches. Edition of 5 + 1 A/P. Private collection, Florida.
In 1987, Vaadia opened his practice to include limited editions of the stone sculptures cast in bronze, augmenting his capacity to explore new compositions through the relationships between multiple figures. For the last 30 years, he has expanded his exploration of the layered figure through scale, through varied groupings based on family and on domesticated animals, through portraiture, and most recently, through bas-relief and photographic prints.
Ah’av, 2013. Bronze, basalt, and bluestone, 60 x 90 x 85 inches. Edition of 5 + 1 A/P.
Available Exhibition Contents: • Early abstract sculptures (1973-1984) • Slate and stone figures: pedestal size, life-size and monumental, portrait busts (from 2002 onward), bas-reliefs (from 2014 onward) • Boaz Vaadia Museum Collection (over 100 sculptures comprised of one piece of nearly every bronze edition cast between 1988 and present day) including pedestal size works, life-size works and monumental works • Videos on the artist and process • Archival photographic prints (from 2011 onward)
Installation view of Boaz Vaadia’s first figurative sculpture solo exhibition. OK Harris Works of Art, New York, NY, 1986.
Number of Works: To be decided by venue in collaboration with artist Media: Bluestone, slate, bronze, mixed media (early works), archival photographic prints Period: 21st century, 2nd half of 20th century Exhibit Development: Exhibition to be selected and designed according to the site Required Space (Interior): Minimum 2000 square feet (in two spaces if exhibiting early work) with exterior location for the placement of monumental work, if desired Duration: 12 to 24 weeks Security: Moderate Shipping: One 40-ft “glide ride” truck; round-trip from Brooklyn, NY. No environmental safeguards required Insurance: Estimate 2 million dollars
Hanna & Shemu’el, 1988. Bronze and bluestone, 26 x 9.5 x 9.5 inches. Edition of 7 + 2 A/P.
Amasya, 1992. Bronze and bluestone, 25.5 x 16 x 11.25 inches. Edition of 7 + 2 A/P.
Exhibition Includes Cost of: • Crating and packing for domestic locations • Artist consultation on selection and placement of artworks • Natural wood exhibition pedestals designed and fabricated by artist • Stone chips to surround sculptures as required • Promotional and educational images, videos and sample text available • Label copy and wall text will be supplied for venue fabrication • Artist attendance at opening and one-hour artist talk Additional Cost to be Supported by Institutions: • Shipping • Insurance • Production of wall text • Framing for archival prints • Exhibition installation and deinstallation by local preparators: 3 persons x 1 day • Site preparation as mutually agreed • Forklift, pallet jack or gantry required for life-size and over life-size sculpture • Coach-class airfare, ground transport, accommodation and subsistence for artist to attend installation, opening, press and educational activities Notes: No specialty lighting required, natural lighting acceptable, white walls preferred. Bas-reliefs require pedestals to be built on site against wall.
Ah’av & Ovadyahu, 2006. Bronze, bluestone, and boulder, 26 x 35 x 23 inches. Edition of 7 + 2 A/P.
Installation view of Boaz Vaadia’s exhibition. Connaught Brown Gallery, London, England, 2014.
Accompanying Publication: Boaz Vaadia: Sculpture 1971-2012, 280 pages, essay by Wendy Steiner (Easthampton, MA: Hudson Hills Press) available for order through publisher and distributor
Centerfold: Family with Dog, 2009. Bronze, boulder, and bluestone, 76 x 120 x 100 inches. Edition of 5 + 1 A/P. Private collection, New Jersey. Temporary installation, Aviator Park in Logan Square, Philadelphia, PA.
Boaz Vaadia may be acclaimed as one of the handful of living artists who have successfully challenged 5,000 years of figurative sculpture to produce a consistent body of work of singular identity within the compass of classical composure. Ivan C. Karp
Artist Statement: My work is based on the concept that man functions according to the same laws as all other creatures of nature. Therefore, the urban environment is not an artificial creation but a natural habitat that we have created for ourselves. Through the exploration of the connection between man and nature, I create sculptures and environments that are contemplative and serene. The materials I use in my sculptures: slate, bluestone, and boulders, are from the immediate area surrounding my studio in New York City. The slate roof shingles and bluestone are sedimentary rocks, which were formed by layers of sediment compressing over millions of years. Slate and bluestone are used throughout the city for roofing, paving, and landscaping. Brought to the area by glacial movement during the ice age, the boulders in my work come from construction sites nearby my studio. The sedimentary bluestone that I use for my work naturally breaks along reeds in the stone. When I first worked with this material, I tried to force it into more continuous, conventional forms, and found that it always fractured in the wrong places. The moment that I discovered my true style of work was when instead of fighting the stone, I surrendered to it, letting the material’s inherent characteristics dictate the form, which became a stratified human figure that echoes the way in which sediment is naturally layered in rock. My process parallels natural transformations in stone and recalls ancient methods of construction that rely on the cut and weight of the stone rather than on mortar. By carving the stone, I release its inherent energies. This stone sculpture now carries a direct message to the soul of the viewer. Man came from the earth and in death returns to it. I see stone as the bone structure of the earth. For select stone pieces, I continue the process by casting the sculpture in bronze, creating a limited edition of five to seven works. Bronze is a durable substance that expands the possibilities for placing work in public contexts while connecting the piece to the history of figurative sculpture.
David, 2010. Bronze and bluestone, 91 x 36 x 36 inches. Edition of 5 + 1 A/P.
Untitled, 1973. Stone and human hair, 16 x 7 x 6 inches.
Untitled, 1977. Bluestone, wood, leather, and fur, 46 x 115 x 32 inches.
Untitled, 1976. Stone, wood, feathers, leather, and fur, 51 x 15 x 13 inches.
Ahiam 2nd, 2006. Bronze, boulder, and bluestone, 32 x 90 x 60 inches. Edition of 5 + 1 A/P.
ZAMIR, 2004. Bluestone, 50 x 49 x 29 inches.
Haza’el #17, 2011. Archival pigment print on paper, 15.75 x 12 inches. Edition of 9 + 3 A/P. Frame Size: 21.125 x 17.375 inches.
Family (Relief), 2014. Slate, 20.75 x 13.75 x 3.5 inches. Back cover: Hulda, 2011. Bronze, basalt, and bluestone, 79.5 x 41 x 29 inches. Edition of 5 + 1 A/P.