Yael Balaban (b. 1958, Moscow) is an Israeli artist known for her intricate drawings, sculptures and installations. Living and working in Haifa, she entered the art world after first earning a degree in mathematics and computer science a background reflected in the precision, repetition and complex internal structures of her work.

Balaban developed a distinctive spiral-drawing technique in which a continuous, looping line gradually produces figures that appear almost three-dimensional. The technique was inspired by a bureaucrat’s signature on the Soviet rehabilitation document of her grandfather, who had been executed under Stalin. Through this visual language, personal and inherited memories are transformed into images that move between abstraction, portraiture and sculpture.

Balaban earned her MFA with honors from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. She received the Israeli Minister of Culture and Sport Award for Visual Arts in 2014, and her work has been exhibited at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Haifa Museum of Art, Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art and Janco-Dada Museum.