Boaz Vaadia Israeli-American, 1951-2017

Boaz Vaadia was an Israeli American sculptor best known for his monumental figurative works carved in stone, particularly basalt. His sculptures are characterized by powerful, archaic forms that evoke ancient ritual, collective memory, and the continuity of human presence across cultures and time.

Born in Israel, Vaadia studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem before continuing his education at the Pratt Institute in New York. He later settled in the United States, working primarily between New York and New England. These transnational experiences shaped his artistic vision, combining Near Eastern visual traditions with modernist sculptural language.

Vaadia is most closely associated with large-scale stone sculptures composed of repeated human figures arranged in columns, stacks, or clustered formations. These works often reference ancient architecture, totems, or communal monuments, emphasizing unity, endurance, and shared humanity. By carving directly into dense stone, Vaadia foregrounded material permanence and physical labor, reinforcing the timeless quality of his forms.

His sculptures balance abstraction and figuration. While clearly human in outline, Vaadia’s figures are simplified and monumentalized, stripped of individual detail in favor of collective identity. This approach places his work in dialogue with ancient Near Eastern, African, and pre-Columbian sculpture, as well as with modernist sculptors such as Brancusi and Giacometti. Despite their scale and weight, his works convey a sense of stillness and solemnity rather than aggression.

In addition to public sculpture, Vaadia produced smaller works in stone and bronze, maintaining the same formal clarity and symbolic density found in his monumental pieces. His work was widely exhibited during his lifetime in galleries, museums, and public spaces in the United States and internationally. Vaadia also completed numerous site-specific commissions, further extending the architectural and communal dimensions of his practice.

Today, Boaz Vaadia is regarded as an important figure in contemporary figurative sculpture. His work is held in significant public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Israel Museum.