The Art of Dimitar Lukanov
Sculptor of Light, Movement & Space
Dimitar Lukanov
“My work is the search for freedom in form.”
-Dimitar Lukanov
(1969–2023)
“Outside Time,” a public art sculpture by artist Dimitar Lukanov, was formally unveiled on February 26, 2014, in the Departure Hall at New York’s JFK Airport Terminal 4.This website preserves his legacy and celebrates his vision.
JFK AirPort
DImitar Lukanov
Dimitar was a Bulgarian-American sculptor whose monumental works embody motion, light, and human spirit.
From New York’s JFK International Airport to cities across Europe and Asia, his sculptures invite reflection and awe.
This website preserves his legacy and celebrates his vision.
Dream RIver
A visual diary of the making of 35ft tall sculpture DreamRiver, the signature piece of Dimitar Lukanov‘s trilogy for MVGO (Amsterdam NY Pedestrian Bridge). The bridge along with his sculptural additions were recently recognized by the American Planning Association as one of six nationwide “Great Places in America” for 2019.
Installed on July 11, 2018, in Amsterdam, New York, “Entrance to Now” is a 15-foot filigree construction composed of nearly 4,000 pounds of bent stainless-steel tubing.
The sculpture was created without the aid of computer modeling; instead, Dimitar Lukanov built the piece entirely by hand, bending and joining the elements to scale by eye. The result is a breathless “drawing in space,” suspended between the diagonals of a sail, the cascading rhythm of a waterfall, and the arc of a bridge.
Entrance To Now
“It is a drawing in space — a threshold where sculpture becomes motion and time becomes light
”
Mother and Child
Unveiled on January 8, 2018, “Mother and Child at the Mohawk River” is an 11-foot bronze sculpture created for the Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook (MVGO) in Amsterdam, New York.
The work was first modeled by Dimitar Lukanov in clay and beeswax before being cast in bronze. The composition is guided by the central figure of the Mother, who leads a chorus of flora and fauna flowing around her. The Child emerges as part of this ensemble, symbolizing renewal and continuity along the Mohawk River.
As the first of three sculptures that form the MVGO trilogy — followed by “DreamRiver” and “Entrance to Now” — this piece establishes a narrative of care, vitality, and connection between community, nature, and generations.
“The Mother leads with grace, carrying the voices of nature and the promise of tomorrow.
”
RIver Dance
RiverDance is a buoyant sculpture with a color, accelerating her movement. A staccato of form in space, she is chronometrically choreographed in no-use-of-computer calculations of weight distribution and bent stainless steel tubing/elements.
...Perhaps RiverDance is a wordless poem, reflective in color of inexhaustible optimism and unstoppable tenderness; an abbreviated verse with her presences and absences of matter unto three-dimensional space; and a color adventuring as a conduit into another dimension’s threshold; maybe the one where Rimbaud’s “voleur de feu” and “porteur de progrès” might be living in..
