Boaz Vaadia's major work,
Asa & Yehoshafat, will be dedicated at 4pm on Saturday, December 19th in Tel Aviv. On the left is a digital rendering of the work in its new site.
One of an edition of five, the bronze sculpture will be permanently installed in Independence Park. Donated by a private donor, the park's restoration will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Tel Aviv.
"It is a great honor to have one of my sculptures permanently placed in Independence Park, Tel Aviv, Israel - the country I grew up in and which so profoundly shaped my artistic sensibility," Boaz commented.
He grew up on a farm in Gat Rimon, and was inspired by the nature around him. "I work with nature as an equal partner, that's still the strongest thing I deal with today that primal connection of man to earth. It's in the materials I use, the environments I make and the way I work." Vaadia hand-carves slices of slate and bluestone, shaping them to be layers in a kind of topographical map. He stacks the horizontal slabs until the graded silhouette of a person, animal or group emerges. He views the geological layering of the stone as a natural model for his own sculptural process. It seems a logical metaphor for our human layering of experience and memory.
Vaadia continues the process by casting select pieces in bronze, creating a limited edition. paired with his sculptures are glacial boulders which function visually as counterpoints to the figures. his work appears as though created by natural forces, such as wind and water; they look simultaneously ancient and futuristic, as if the workmanship forms a bridge from the Stone Age to the digital age.
Boaz Vaadia lives and works in New York City.
