Zadok Ben-David is an award-winning artist based in London and Portugal.
Best known for his sculptures, installations and public artworks, Ben-David explores themes linked to human nature and evolution. His work is often referred to as poetic and magical, always oscillating between delicate miniature work and monumental installations. Metal has become Ben-David’s preferred language which contrasts with the subtle optical illusions he creates from a sometimes-rough medium.
Ben-David represented his country Israel at the Venice Biennale in 1988 and participated in biennales worldwide including XXII Cerveira International Art Biennial, Portugal (2022), Breda Photo Biennial, Netherlands (2020), Krasnoyarsk Biennale, Russia (2019), Busan Biennale, South Korea (2010); Biennale Cuvee, Austria (2009); “Wonder” Singapore Biennale, Singapore (2008) and Sculptuur Biennale, Netherlands (2007).
Born in Bayhan, Yemen in 1949, Ben-David immigrated to Israel the same year and graduated in Advanced Sculpture from St. Martin’s School of Art in London where he also taught from 1977-1982.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Natural Reserve, Nashira Gallery, Milan, Italy
Natural Reserve, Annandale Gallery, Perth, Australia
People I Saw But Never Met, Itchimbia Cultural Center, Ecuador
Blackfield, Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens, London, UK
People I Saw But Never Met, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel
People I Saw But Never Met, 13 Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennale, Siberia, Russia
People I Saw But Never Met, Centro de Arte Contemporânea
Graça Morais, Brangança, Portugal
Blackfield, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France
Human Nature, Perth Festival 2018, Lawrence Wilson Gallery, Perth, Australia
People I saw but never met, Collaboration with SUUM project, Seoul, South Korea
People I saw but never met, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
People I saw but never met, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia
The Other Side of Midnight, The Art Gallery of Uzbekistan, Tashkent
The Other Side of Midnight, National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana
The Other Side of Midnight, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
The Other Side of Midnight, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia
Zadok Ben-David at Singapore Botanic Gardens, presented by Sotheby’s,Singapore
Simple Line, Mysteski Arsenal, Kiev, Ukraine
The Story I am About to Tell You…, Magic Box, Cerveira, Portugal
Blackfield, Artclub 1563, Seoul, Korea
Blackfield, Verso Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy
1918 Art Space, Shanghai, China
Blackfield, Galerie Albrecht, Berlin, Germany
Blackfield, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Human nature, Tel Aviv Museum, Israel.
Blackfield, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia
Four Seasons, Sotheby’s, Hanover Square, London UK.
Invinsible Reality, Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China
Oroom Foundation Seoul, Korea
Blackfield, Hales Gallery, London
Blackfield, Janet Oh Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1918 Artspace, Shanghai, China
Magica Realta, Innerscapes, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia
Innerscapes, Cass Foundation Gallery, London, UK
Magica Realta, Galleria Civica d’arte Moderna e Conteporanea, Saint Vincent, Aosta, Italy
Innerscapes, Esplanade Culture Centre, Singapore
Evolution and Theory, The Forum, Villa Nova de Cerveira, Portugal
Magica Realta, Place Arte Conteporanea, Cavagnolo, Torino, Italy
Evolution and Theory, Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, Germany
Leuchter & Peltzer, Dusseldorf, Germany
Magical Reality, Refusalon, San Francisco, USA
Evolution and Theory, Mercedez Benz Forum, Stuttgart, Germany
Evolution and Theory, Earl Lu Gallery, Singapore
Evolution and Theory, Ambrosino Gallery, Miami, USA
Evolution and Theory, San Francisco Art Institute, USA
Evolution and Theory, Beelden aan Zee, Schveningen, Holland
Evolution and Theory, Herzliya Museum, Israel
Cheluche Gallery (with David Mach), Tel Aviv, Israel
Im Heppacher Gallery, Esslingen, Germany
Evolution and Theory, Annandale Galleries, Sydney, Australia
Jason & Rhodes Gallery, London, England
Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, England
Im Heppacher Gallery, Esslingen, Germany
Ecke Galerie, Augsburg, Germany
Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, London
Collins Gallery, Glasgow, touring to Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery, York City Art Gallery, The Gallery Downstairs, Mid-Pennine Art Association, Burnley
Annadale Galleries, Sydney, Australia
Galerie Albrecht, Munich, Germany
The Art Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Galerie Albrecht, Munich, Germany
Luba Bilu Gallery Melbourne, Australia
Venice Biennale, represented Israel
Newcastle Polytechnic Gallery, England
Albert Totah Gallery, New York
Creatures of a Private Fable, Bradford City Museum
Benjamin’s Rhodes Gallery, London, England
Art & Project, Amsterdam Holland
Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, London
121 Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
LYC Museum, Cambria, UK
Air Gallery, London
Awarded the Grande Premio at the XIV Biennial Internacional de Arte de Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal
Awarded the Tel Aviv Museum Prize for Sculpture
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AWARDS
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
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2022
2021
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2019
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2017
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Horse Power, “O poder do objeto” (The power of the object), Museu Bienal De Cerveira, Cerveira, Portugal
The Bright Reincarnation of the Antelope, The Love of Art comes first, Art & Project at the Kröller-Müller Museum, Netherlands
Aya Uma, Nascosti alla luce del sole, Nashira Gallery, Milan, Italy
People I Saw But Never Met, New Horizon: Vision of the Future, Arts Maebashi, Japan
Shrubs, Flowers and Decay, Galerie Albrecht, Berlin, Germany
Forest Through the Trees, Laumeier Sculpture Park, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Girl on the Run, XXII Cerveira International Art Biennale Cerveira, Cerveira, Portugal
Big Boy, Boom Festival, Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal
Les Extatiques, Open Gallery La Defense, Paris, France
XXI Cerveira International Art Biennial, Cerveira, Portugal
Continuous Regeneration, Columbia Circle, Shanghai, China
Breda Photo Biennale, Breda, Netherlands
Continuous Refle(a)ction, Riverside Art Museum, Beijing, China
Through The Looking Glass, Cob Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Sunny Moon, Sculpture by the sea, Cottesloe, Perth, Australia
Sunny Moon, Sculpture by the sea, Bondi beach, Sydney, Australia
Big Boy, Sculpture by the sea, Cottesloe, Perth, Australia
Evolution & Theory, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Blackfield, Kenpoku Art Festival, Iberaki, Japan
Newland, Kunstverein Viernheim, Heidenheim, Germany
Masterpiece, South Grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, UK
Newland, Kontur. Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany
Do Not Destroy, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, USA
Roundabout: Face to Face, Tel Aviv Museum, Israel.
Beyond Limits Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, UK.
Roundabout, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand
Present and experience of the Past, International Sculpture in Racconigi, Turin, Italy.
Living in Evolution, Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea.
Ten Monumental British Sculptures, Berardo Collection. Shown at Cerro da Vila Museum and Archaeological Site in Vilamoura, Portugal
Beyond Limits Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, UK.
OK Bienale Cuvee 2009, Linz, Austria
Vivid Fantasy, KISS (Kunst im Schloss Untergröningen), Untergröningen, Germany
Animals Contemporary Vision, Nave Gallery, Parco Culturale Le Serre, Turin, Italy
Of The Outer World, Duckyong Kim & Zadok Ben-David, I-Myu Projects, London
Dreams, Passage de Retz, Paris, France
Gathering Dreams, Beijing Olympic Games 2008, Beijing, China.
Beyond Limits Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, UK
Animal and Nature, Chateau des Bousval, Belgium
Wonder, Singapore Biennale 2008, Singapore
Sequences & Repetition, Brunel Arts Centre, London, UK
Rummage: Sculptors’ Drawings, The Winchester Gallery, University of Southampton
Animal, Kunst im Schloss, Untergroningen, Germany
Sculptuur Biennale, Den Haag, Netherlands
Sequences & Repetition, Jerwood Space, London
Beyond Limits, Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, UK.
XIV International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cerveira, Vila nova de Cerveira, Portugal
1918 Artspace, Shanghai, China
Fatamorgana, Haifa Museum of Contemporary Art, Haifa, Israel
Telltale, Ewha Art Centre, Seoul, Korea
Landscape, Pump Gallery, Battersea, London
Science Fiction, Singapore Museum of Art, Singapore
Blue Place arte Conteporanea, Cavagnolo, Torino, Italy
The Train Ride, Video Installation, Ambrosino Gallery, Miami, USA
Sculptura Internazionale a La mandria, Torino, Italy
Salto Naturale, Kunst im Schloss, Untergroningen, Germany
Paper art Bienale, Leopold-hoesch Museum, Duren, Germany
Thinking big, Concept for twenty-first century British sculpture, Peggy Guggenheim collection, Venice, Italy
About Face, Croydon clock tower, London
Tempo Kunst im Schloss, Untergroningen, Germany
Carnival des Animaux, Den Haag Sculpture 2001, The Hague, Holland
Galerie en Lijstenmakerij, Den Haag, Holland
The Train Ride, Video Installation, Herzliya Museum of Art, Israel
L’Homme qui Marche, Palais Royal, Paris, France
Narcisse Blesse – Passage de Retz – Paris, France
The Walking Man, Den Haag Sculpture, Den Haag, Holland
BRONZE – Contemporary British Sculpture, Holland Park, London, UK
Looking ahead-vision of Israel, ICA, San Jose, California, USA
The Shape of the Century (100 years of sculpture in Britain)
Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury and Canary Wharf, London, UK
ANIMAL – Musee Bourdelle Paris, France
Artists books – Refusalon San Francisco, California, USA
Israeli Sculpture 1948-1998, Tefen Museum, Israel
Museum of Modern Art, Drubovnik, Croatia
British Figurative Art, Part 2 – Sculpture, Flower East Gallery, London
Ambrosino Gallery, Miami, USA
Fantasia, Herzliya Museum, Israel
100 Park Lane, London
5 Years to 2000, Herzliya Museum, Israel
Ambrosino Gallery, Miami, USA
VIII International Bienal, Portugal
A collaboration of music and art with Peter Gabriel, Land Mark Tower, Yokahama, Japan
Antipathos, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Locus, Fisher Gallery, Los Angeles
Places and Mainstream, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
The new metaphysics, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Kunsteuropa, Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany
Places and Mainstream, Museum Hara, Tokyo, Japan
Jewish Art of the 20th Century, Barbican, London
Sculptures Drawing with Joel Fisher and Franz Bernhard, Galerie Albrecht, Munich
Recent Acquisitions, Tel Aviv Museum, Israel
5 British Artists, Ekymose Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France
Metal & Motion, Touring from Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
Palaces of Culture, Stoke City Museum & Art Gallery
Israeli Artists, Brooklyn Museum, New York. Continued to Europe, Japan and Korea
Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Fresh Paint, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Tefen Museum, Israel
Edward Totah Gallery, London
From two worlds, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London & The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Joint Sculpture & Dance Choreography with Celia Hulten & The London Contemporary Dance Company, The Place, London.
IV International Bienal, Portugal
Sculpture From St. Martins School of Art, Playhouse Gallery, Harlow, England
Art & Project, Amsterdam, Holland
Who is afraid of Red, Yellow & Blue? Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol
Attitudes 84, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK.
80 Years of Sculpture, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Liverpool Garden Festival, England
Tel Hai, International Art Meeting, Israel
Pegan Echo, Riverside Studios, London