Dimitar Lukanov (Bulgarian: Димитър Луканов, born February 23, 1969, Plovdiv, Bulgaria - died October 15, 2023, ) was an internationally renowned Bulgarian-American artist.
Early life and art education
In 1982 Dimitar Lukanov chaired the World's Children Parliament in the Nicholas Roerich-inspired International Assembly "Banner of Peace" in Sofia with 135 countries participating.[1]
Waterfall of the Sun 2003, bronze, lost-waxSilent Wave 2007, bronze, lost-wax, Shanghai, ChinaSalto de Agua 2001, steel, 15 feet Isla Mujeres Sculpture park, MexicoBalance of Gray 2012, fired clay/glazeWhite Fire 2012, fired clayMountain of Colors 2012, fired clay/glaze
He began his studies at the art school of his hometown, worked in a foundry of bronze in Sofia and studied for a year at the Hudojestvena Akademija[2] . In 1991 he left on a full scholarship to continue his studies in Paris.
He attended École Parsons in Paris[3] France (1991–93), graduating at the top of the class with honors from Parsons School of Design,[4] New York City (BFA, honors, 1994). In 2003 Dimitar was selected among the Top 100 alumni of all times of the 90-year-old Parsons The New School University of Design among the likes of Jasper Johns, Edward Hopper, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs and others. His studies were fully funded by an Helene David-Weill Scholarship.
Dimitar was awarded full scholarship to the highly selective Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture,[5] Maine, USA (1995), and Columbia University Scholarship for his graduate studies at School of the Arts, Columbia University, New York City (MFA, 1997).
Teaching
During the period between 1998 and 2006 Dimitar was a visiting professor and guest lecturer in the United States, France, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. He taught various visual art classes at Parsons' New York campus and led courses in "Intensive Painting and Drawing" for Parsons School of Design in Paris in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Most recently, he was a guest lecturer and critic at the graduate program of Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts[6] at Arizona State University. Lukanov also collaborates on various arts-in-education projects in New York. He was a consultant visual artist doing sculpture and painting murals with NYC Department of Education Special Programs[7] and his students' work was exhibited at the Staten Island Children's Museum.[8]
Light to Sky 2006, 15 ft, lost lost-wax cast JFK-IAT Terminal 4 Arrivals, New YorkBalance of Time 2012, bronze singular lost-wax cast with no welding
Activities
Created the monumental sculpture "Outside Time" for renovated JFK's Terminal 4. The signature piece is the core part of a three-work public sculpture project, commissioned to Mr. Lukanov by JFK IAT in December 2012. A structural feat, the unique and ambitious monumental piece is 90% airborne even if it is pronouncedly inclined. The steel and aluminum sculptural work is comprised by some 600 elements as well as 1000 ft of tubing, all hand-bent and assembled by the author.[9]
Commissioned and executed in the lost-wax technique in 2006, "Light to Sky" is a major public art sculpture project at International Arrivals, Terminal 4,[10] at Kennedy Airport, New York. "Light to Sky" is at the top of the annual editorial review of leading US magazine "Art in America" for the 20 most important public art projects in the United States for 2006.[11]
Dimitar Lukanov was awarded Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant for 2011.[12]
2007 – "Silent Wave" inaugurates Yue-Sai Kan lifestyle gallery project "House of Yue-Sai" in Shanghai.
In 2006 and 2007 Dimitar was an invited guest-artist by ArtCultureStudio, Geneva, for the Moscow World Art Fair at the Manezh.
Dimitar Lukanov is a member of the Chilean Association of Painters and Sculptors, Santiago, Chile (since 2010).
Selected exhibitions
2018-9: Three sculptures, MVGO pedestrian bridge, Amsterdam, NY
2010: L'Heritage International Gallery, Moscow 2008: Izbrannoe Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2008: Silent Wave, House of Yue-Sai Kan commission, Shanghai, China
2006: Light to Sky, sculpture commission, permanent installation, International Air terminal, Terminal 4, John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York
2006-7: Moscow International Art Exhibition, Manezh, galerie George de Bartha, Geneva
2007: Sculpture, Maison d'Art, Monte Carlo
2006: Shanghai International Art Festival Exhibition, Shanghai, China
2006-7: Art Loves Design, Sculpture exhibit, NiBa Home, Miami, FL
^Rabotnichesko Delo, year LVI, issue 237, front page, August 25, 1982, "Tozi zov ne mozhe de ne bqde chut" by Todor Koruev; Second Session of the World Children Parliament, International Assembly "Banner of Peace", Sofia 1982
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