todor todorov
Mediums Used
He is probably the top Bulgarian international artist and has worked and exhibited in UK, Japan, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, France, Taiwan, China, Portugal, Korea, Turkey, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Scotland and South Africa. He is an absolute giant of the sculpture world who seems to have captured the contemporary ethos of desirable art with seemingly effortless ease
For me, sculpture is a means of uniting the diverse perceptual structures -historical and social structures to architectural, topological, and meteorological -that inform any given site. The objects and gestures that I introduce into a space operate on several different planes of significance at once. In some ways, they confirm a visitor”s expectations; they respond to conventional understandings of space. But my sculpture also asks visitors to see, sense and think further, to recognize their own location at a point where many different kinds of meaning converge, catalyzing an expansion of the visitor”s sensual and conceptual awareness.
I begin by studying the sites physical surfaces, light and weather patterns, and its accessibility. I learn about its internal divisions and its boundaries, and the pattern of movement in, through and around it. I consider the physical and conceptual relationships that have given the site a particular social “address”: uses, events, associations that have assembled around the space. I attend to patterns or cycles of change related to the site: the regular ebb and flow of people, vehicles or information, the patterns of wind and rain, or the alteration in light through the course of a day or a year.
Rather than masking or shifting such distinctive features, I seek ways of making them readily perceptible. In turn, I seek to bring them into synchrony with one another. Sometimes this is best achieved with an element that resists, sometimes with one that submits, to the multiple forces affecting the site. On a flat, open site, for example, I placed vertical elements in such a way as to function as a sundial. Such a subtle resistance of a vertical against a horizontal structure tends to emphasize, through contrast, the inherent flatness of the site; in the absence of distracting structures and movements, these vertical elements also resist a visitor”s tendency to move quickly through such a site. By associative means, the sculpture calls attention to slow changes – notably in the direction and intensity of light-that occur in the space with passing time. On a rocky, steeply inclined site, I placed a series of rocky structures to temporarily hold, shape, and finally release a stream of water at various points on its downward course. Not blocking the water, but slowing and spreading and again speeding it, the sculpture makes the distances and qualities of surface on this site changing depths, speeds, brightness and clarity: available as a complex metaphor for the varied human activities that occur there.
Through such study and modest intervention, I locate the visitor among the multiple potentialities of a given site. He or she becomes a point where the physical forces can be seen and felt, but also resisted, a point where the established patterns and associations with the site can be recalled or set aside, a point of infinite possibility for continuity and for change
Sculptures by todor todorov
Credentials
Qualifications
2009-12 BULGARIAN UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS, Sofia PhD SCULPTURE
1975-77 BULGARIAN UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS, Sofia M.A. SCULPTURE
1971-75 BULGARIAN UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS, Sofia B.A. SCULPTURE
1966-71 NATIONAL FINE ARTS COLLEGE, Sofia - High School of Art Diploma,2009-12 BULGARIAN UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS, Sofia PhD SCULPTURE
1975-77 BULGARIAN UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS, Sofia M.A. SCULPTURE
1971-75 BULGARIAN UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS, Sofia B.A. SCULPTURE
1966-71 NATIONAL FINE ARTS COLLEGE, Sofia - High School of Art Diploma
Exhibitions
yes
Awards
2009 FIRST PRIZE AWARD for central piece of sculpture - SHANGHAI EXPO 2010, China
2007 Sculpture DANCE is one of the 20 directly invited/awarded sculptures to be placed permanently in front of the Olympic Buildings for the Olympic Games in Beijing and will be placed In front of the National Grand Theatre `THE EGG` in Beijing, China.
2007 FIRST PRIZE AWARD of SHANGHAI ART and SCIENCE BIENNALE - Shanghai, China
2006 One of the three winners of VENICE SCULPTURE PARK competition, Venice, Italy
2006 OUTSTANDING AWARD - Beijing Olympic Park City Sculpture Competition, Beijing
2005 FIRST PRICE AWARD for Water Kinetic Sculpture in the 2005 KAO INTERNATIONAL KINETIC ART COMPETITION, Palm Beach, Florida, USA.
2004 FIRST PRICE AWARD for Water Kinetic Sculpture in the 2004 KAO INTERNATIONAL KINETIC ART COMPETITION, USA.
2002 SECOND PRICE AWARD for FAÇADE OF THE CITY ART GALLERY OF SOFIA - stainless steel, glass - 30.00/12.00/5.00 m. - Sofia,
1999 Selected as one of nine overseas artists to participate in "Sculpture by the Sea 1999" Sydney harbor, Sydney
1998 Awarded commission for a 3m bronze sculpture, a stone relief 5.00/3.00m and five 5.00/3.00m stained glass windows for the LOWER TOWN SQUARE of the town of Hamilton.
1993 Awarded commission for SCULPTURE/SUNDIAL at Glasgow, Scotland. This is a site-specific work for the `Sustrans` initiative `Path for people`. Project completed in September 1996
1991 The 7th Henry Moore Grant Prize Exhibition for Abstract Sculpture. `The Utsukushy-Ga-Hara Open Air Museum`, Tokyo, Japan. Participation with 2 projects
1990 SECOND PRIZE AWARD - Competition for the Monument of Those Who Fallen of the First World War - Bourgas
1987 THE BEST PROJECT AWARD - competition for the town memorial of Rodopa, Smolian
1986 FIRST PRIZE AWARD for two facade reliefs and figure of The Victory for The New Military History Museum - Sofia
1985 International Art Competition `Young Artists For Peace` Torun, Poland. Participation with 1 project
1984 DIPLOME D`HONEUR - Long,
1984 Competition for art pieces incorporated in the facade of an electric power station in Sweden - 2 projects
1983 FIRST PRIZE AWARD - competition for a memorial to the Bulgarian poet Geo Milev, Stara Zagora
1978 Competition for Monument of Trade-Unions, PraguePublications
2014 Elemental Sculpture: Theory and Practice by Todor Todo rov - ISBN 1443857823
2013 ELEMENTAL SCULPTURE - ‘ARCHITECTURE’ magazine
2012 ISBN 5511847321
2005 The sculpture reference by Arthur Williams - USA ISBN 0-9755383-0-6
1997 THE OUTDOOR SCULPTURE - `ART` magazine
1996 BARBARA HEPWORTH - `ART` magazine
1995 BRITISH ART OF 20 CENTURY - `ART` magazine
1994 CHELSEA HARBOUR`94 - `ART` magazine
1994 EUROSCULPTURE AS A PART OF EUROCULTURE - `ART` magazine
1993 LA sculpture en acier by Philippe Clerin - France ISBN 2-249-27941-1,2014 Elemental Sculpture: Theory and Practice by Todor Todo rov - ISBN 1443857823
2013 ELEMENTAL SCULPTURE - ‘ARCHITECTURE’ magazine
2012 ISBN 5511847321
2005 The sculpture reference by Arthur Williams - USA ISBN 0-9755383-0-6
1997 THE OUTDOOR SCULPTURE - `ART` magazine
1996 BARBARA HEPWORTH - `ART` magazine
1995 BRITISH ART OF 20 CENTURY - `ART` magazine
1994 CHELSEA HARBOUR`94 - `ART` magazine
1994 EUROSCULPTURE AS A PART OF EUROCULTURE - `ART` magazine
1993 LA sculpture en acier by Philippe Clerin - France ISBN 2-249-27941-1
MEMBERSHIP
2008 - present Honorary Member of China Sculpture Institute, Beijing
2006 - present Member of the Art and Architecture (A and A) - London, UK
2004 - present Member of the A.I.E.S.M., International Association of Monumental Sculptures Events
2003 - present Member of the International Kinetic Art Organization, USA
1997 - present Member of the Research Board of Advisors of ABI
1993 - present Member of the ROYAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH SCULPTORS, London
1991 - present Member of the ISC, Washington, DC, USA
1985 - present Member of the UBA - Sofia
TANGSHAN INTERNATIONAL URBAN SCULPTURE COLLECTION - 2010
COLLECTION OF WORKS FROM URUMQI INTERNATIONAL CITY SCULPTURE - 2009
GATHERING DREEMS - Beijing Olympic Sculpture Collection - 2008
VOICE OF STONE - Open-Air Stone Sculptures in Japan - Tadayasu Sakai, Art critic ISBN978-4-7807-0398-6 C0071 Printed in Japan - Kanryu Fujita 2008
THE SCULPTURE REFERENCE by Arthur Williams - Sculpture Books Publishing - 2005 - USA
LA SCULPTURE EN ACIER by Philippe Clerin - Dessain et Tolra - 1993 - France
MODERN ART MEDALS - A retrospective - Rijksmuseum and Museum Beelden aan Zee Scheveningen - FIDEM Publishing - 1998 - Netherland
ARCHITECTURAL ARTS and SCULPTURE - The Guild Publishing - 2000 - USA
CONTEMPORARY MONUMENTAL SCULPTURE IN BULGARIA - an UBA edition - 1993 - Bulgaria
INTERNATIONAL FAMOUS WORKS EXHIBITION IN HUALIEN - 2000 - Hualien Stone sculpture Publishing - Taiwan
SCULPTURE IN GUILIN YUZI PARADIZE - Yuzi Paradize Edition - 2001 - China
PUBLIC SCULPTURE
2010 INFINITY - granite, 2.20/2.20/2.20 m. - Tangshan International Sculpture Park – Tangshan, China
2009 FRIENDSHIP - stone, 2.20/2.00/1.00 m. - Xinjiang Urumqi International Sculpture Park, China
2008 DANCE - aluminium, wind driven kinetic sculpture - Beijing Olympic Games, China
2007 THE BEGINNING - stainless steel, 2.50/1.20/1.20 m. - Icheon International Sculpture Park - Korea
2007 WALL RELIEF - marble - 3.00/1.35 m. - Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group Head Quarter, Beijing, China
2005 SUNDIAL - granite, stainless steel, bronze - 7.50/7.50/3.00 m. - Haskovo
2005 KNIGHT TEMPLAR - stainless steel, bronze - 3.60/1.00/0.75 - Hotel Templar, Bansko, Bulgaria
2005 DOME BURGAS - stainless steel, fiberglass 5.60/5.00/2.75 - Burgas, Bulgaria
2005 DOME DEVIN - stainless steel, stained glass17.60/8.75/8.75 - Devin, Bulgaria
2004 ROTUNDA - stainless steel, bronze - 16.00/9.00/9.00 m. - Helena Resort -
2004 SUNDIAL - granite, bronze - 7.00/7.00/3.00 m. - Helena Resort -
2003 WINDDANCE 2 - stainless steel - 2.50/0.90/0.90 m. - Johannesburg,
2002 WALL RELIEF - stone, 12.80/2.40 m., Sofia
2002 HANGED SCULPTURE - bronze, brass, gold - 4.00/4.00/1.00m. - private house. Sofia
2000 DOME BIRDS - stainless steel, bronze - 4.00/4.00/4.00m - Sofia
1999 TOTEM - a sculpture for the New Town Square of Hamilton, bronze - 4, 00/2.20/1.00m
1999 FOUR ELEMENTS - sculptures for ODYSSEY project as follows: EARTH - 16.00/16.00/4.00m bronze, concrete and lighting effects, FIRE - 10.00/8.00/5.00m, bronze, aluminium, coloured glass, computer and lighting effects, WATER - 16.00/12.00/6.00m aluminium, water, computer and lighting effects AIR - 6.00/6.00/6.00m coloured glass, sound, lighting and computer effects
1999 STAINED GLASS WINDOWS - series of five 5.00/3.00m stained glass windows on the Screen Wall in the New Town Square of Hamilton - 75sq.m
1998 SUNDIAL - a site specific work for the town of Glasgow, Scotland - steel, concrete, wood, stone-30.00/15.00/5.00m
1997 WATERFALL - stone and water - 3.00/3.00/0.50m Hamilton
1994 CHAOS AND ORDER - 7 kinetic works for `Soros Foundation` bookstores throughout Bulgaria - steel, bronze - 1.70/0.90/0.80m
1990 LAPIDARIUM - a relief and integrated entrains for the front facade of the archeological museum, Vratza -limestone, steel - 9.00/2.30m
1989 THE OLD NAVY - a relief for the foyer of Head Office of Bulgarian Shipbuilding Co. - bronze, wood - 7.00/3.00m
1989 MOBILE/RELIEF - for the facade of the National Rowing Channel - Plovdiv, aluminium - 4.00/3.00/1.00m
1989 TOUCH - a garden sculpture - bronze - 3.50/2.70/1.00m
1989 RELIEF/LOGO of the European Rowing Championship - bronze, 2, 00/2, 00/0.50m
1989 THE THREE BASIC COLOURS IN MOTION - steel, 3.00/2.50/1.00m
1988 FLIGHT - a facade relief for the main entrance of the Bulgarian Airlines Hotel, Bourgas - aluminium, stainless steel - 14.00/6.00/1.00m
1987 FLAME - steel, 35.00/35.00/ 15.00m Pleven
1988-96 Ongoing project in urban landscaping for Park District, Vratza. This includes planning advice and design of street furniture: doors, fences, flower stands and benches - concrete, cast iron and steel
1980-87 Design of two facade reliefs and figure of Victory for the New Bulgarian Military History Museum, Sofia - bronze, steel; reliefs - 60.00/7.00m, Victory - 5.00 /4.00/3.00m
1985 MEDIEVAL SEA MAP - interior relief in Bulgarian Navy Palace - copper - 5.50/3.00m
1984 MOTION - stone, 7.00/15.00m - Stara Zagora
1983 ILUSION AND REALITY - stone and lighting effects, 9.00/7.00/3.20m Sliven
1983 STRUCTURE - outdoor sculpture washed by water on the main square of Biala Slatina - concrete and ceramics -10.00/8.00/2.00m
1982 Relief on the Theater Square - Shumen - cast iron and bronze on 200 sq. m
1981 CASCADES - a public water park with 14 implanted granite sculptures covering an area of 5 000sq.m
1980 MOVING STRUCTURES - stone, concrete running water, lighting effects, 100.00 /4.00/0.70m - Shumen
1979 MEMORIAL WALLS - Stara Zagora - bronze, concrete - 15.00/5.00/3.00m
1979 FOUNTAIN - stone, 21.50/24.50/6.00m Shumen
1977 ETERNAL FIRE - Stara Zagora - bronze, concrete- 3.00/2.00/1.50m
