“This has been my idea for over 10 years now. I started off with medical scanners. It’s a long story,” the artist Krasimir Todorov says. “I can give you example. We have the idea of making a copy of a given treasure in a given size. We upload the information in a computer, shape it the way we want and change it digitally in whatever way we desire. Once we’ve reached that stage, the idea of this new technology is to transform the computer-generated image into an actual object. For the purpose, we use special sheets of paper which are ordered in a particular way. To make the object stable we subsequently use fixatives. This is Zn Art. This technology permits the recreation of given objects in different sizes and quantities.”

The fire of life

The materials used for recreating the objects vary from paper and metal to wood and glass. Metal can be cast in fine-made paper moulds. Krasi Todorov has a 3D self-portrait in the center of a piece of glass. The piece actually consists of layers of glass put one over the other. He has depicted himself as a man from the Far East with his hands held for prayer. “My self-portrait is one of humility and gratitude to the one who is above us and the things he has given us,” the artist says.

The meeting point of the divine and the human is the subject of many of his works. Among the works are ones bearing titles such as The Fire of Life and When God looks up at the sky. They have breathtaking colors and dramatic features. A twinkle of eternity is another very philosophically sounding title of a magnificent work of art that provokes thinking about the brevity of human life and the limitlessness of time and space.

Actually, time has always been a subject of immense interest to Krasimir Todorov. Using the Zn Art technology, he has recreated the Thracian tomb of Sveshtari enlisted in UNESCO’s world heritage list. According to him, this tomb was created by the ancient Thracians with a vision of timelessness.

The Thracian toumb of Sveshtari - replica

“I can safely say that the Sveshtari tomb was my most genuine face-off with the world of Antiquity,” says Krasimir. “Years ago we thoroughly documented the tomb with the archaeologist Diana Gergova. At one point during the filming of the documentary while we were in the tomb we had lost the track of time but it was passing, relentlessly. Then I contemplated on what the Thracians knew about the time, stars, the Cosmos and also about timelessness. I’ve created a model of the tomb which reveals its incredible aesthetics dating back to the 3rd century B.C.E.,” says Krasimir Todorov.

Krassimir Todorov - "Treasure box"

Besides Paris, the artist plans to show his work in America, Asia and Africa. The exhibition on each continent will include works showing its indigenous culture. 

English version: Delian Zahariev