A SCULPTURE BY A BULGARIAN ARTIST AT JOHN F. KENNEDY AIRPORT

The monumental sculpture “Outside Time” created by the Bulgarian artist, Dimitar Lukanov, will be officially unveiled in the Departure area at the recently expanded and renovated Terminal 4 of New York’s JFK Airport. The sculpture is the signature piece of a three-work sculpture project.

“The redevelopment and expansion of Terminal 4 required creation of monumental art to reflect this growth”, said the artist Dimitar Lukanov for the BNT morning programme 'The Day Begins with Culture’.

The composer Viktor Chuchkov, who was invited as a guest in the studio of the programme said that Dimitar Lukanov is an artist who is authentic, persistent, quiet, humble and modest and with a bright talent.

In a live interview for the BNT “The Day Begins with Culture” on 26th February, Dimitar Lukanov says that Terminal 4 is the largest terminal at JFK airport and will provide services to nearly 16 million passengers. The sculpture project was commissioned to him as part of the redevelopment and expansion of Terminal 4. “Light in Sky” is another sculpture, commissioned to him earlier and now on display at the airport.

“Outside Time” is 9 metres tall, weighs 2 tonnes and is comprised of 300 metre long steel and aluminum tubing and 600 steel and aluminum elements. The sculpture is installed right in front of the official tower of the airport, which controls the air traffic and is the last visual piece people departing from the airport will see. Dimitar Lukanov added that no computer programs were used for the design development of “Outside Time”. He built the piece to scale-by-eye and every weight distribution was calculated through his judgment, as a tridimensional picture in space.

Alain Maca, President of the management company for Terminal 4 says that complexity and essence of “Outside Time” are defined by its dualities: it is neither horizontal nor vertical nor fully diagonal; seemingly fleeting, the piece is an ascendance of mass, yet each and every element with its weight and exact placements were extrapolated with utmost precision; the sculpture firmly sits on its base but is never grounded; it is heavy, yet light (70% aluminum); it is massive and material but it has more air in it than matter; it has no beginning and no end, an open-end bridge, a flow; it is rigid yet meandering and curved; it’s fluid and fleeting in its movement yet tangible and traditional in its welded construction.