Prof. Bozhidar Yonov will be awarded the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the National Academy of Art
2024.04.09
15 April 2024, 4:00 pm, Academia Gallery
1 Shipka Street, Sofia
At an official meeting of the Academic Council of the National Academy of Art, to be held on 15 April (Monday), starting at 4:00 pm in Academia Gallery (1 Shipka Street), Prof. Bozhidar Yonov will be awarded the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the National Academy of Art.
Prof. Bozhidar Yonov's contributions to the National Academy of Art and contemporary Bulgarian visual culture are long-standing, numerous and diverse. His artistic path is an embodiment of both dynamics and spirit of artistic processes not only at the National Academy of Art, but also in art from the second half of the 20th century until today.
Having graduated with a degree in Decorative-Monumental Painting under Prof. Georgi Bogdanov, Bozhidar Yonov continues to contribute to the development of monumental art by using various expressive and plastic means. In parallel, he is one of the active artists in the field of spatial, later called advertising design, with numerous implementations in some of the largest international exhibitions in Montreal, Tokyo, Damascus, Hanover, Brno, Moscow. At the same time, for 13 seasons, his stylish and strong posters formed the visual identity of Sofia Theatre.
Prof. Yonov is the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including: gold medal for tourist poster – Turin, Italy, second prize from the International poster competition organised by the United Nations on the theme of Human Rights, Strasbourg, diplomas from the biennales in Warsaw and Lahti, numerous awards from the Biennial of the Bulgarian Theatre Poster in Dimitrovgrad, silver medal for graphic design of a calendar from the 4th International Biennial – Brno, Czech Republic, the grand prize for a calendar at the PrintCom exhibition, International Fair – Plovdiv.
He is the winner of Alexander Zhendov Annual Award of the Union of Bulgarian Artists for applied graphics and of the Golden Feather award. His enamels are property of the prestigious museums in Limoges and Kecskemet. He has also organised a number of solo exhibitions, some of which in: Greensboro (USA), Berlin, Vienna; Copenhagen, Zurich, Moscow, Sofia, the most impressive being Three Directions in Academia Gallery.
At the National Academy of Art, Prof. Yonov has held various academic positions: head of department, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Arts and Design, and Rector. The period 2003–2007, in which Prof. Yonov was Rector of the National Academy of Art, was characterised by constructiveness and affirmation of the institution's significance nationally and internationally. His special achievements–the concluding of the contract between the National Academy of Art and Cité internationale des arts, Paris, and the building of Academia Gallery–continue to bear fruit, while the strong start with a series of emblematic exhibitions is a beneficial prerequisite for the gallery's prestige today.
As one of the co-founders of the International Triennial of Stage Poster and its chairperson since 2016, Bozhidar Yonov has immensely contributed to this foundation's becoming a well-established international institution that gathers the "cream" of the world poster art, and practically being the only platform of such scale and scope, which is open to hundreds of Bulgarian artists from several generations.
Among Bozhidar Yonov's contributions is his undertaking that involves presenting of poster exhibitions in outdoor environments and determining of places as special art zones. Thus he returns to his most prestigious gallery – the streets. The expositional constructions and the dozens of exhibitions presented in places, such as Slaveykov Square, the facade of the National Academy of Music in Sofia, the quay wall of the Port of Burgas, the fence of the art gallery in Sozopol, and the fences of several schools around Bulgaria, are indicative of the scale and energy level of this particular activity of Prof. Yonov.
A tireless experimenter, today Prof. Yonov continues to create enamel works of art, posters, watercolours, computer-generated designs, to create exhibition spaces and to be an example of professionalism, innovation and responsibility among his fellow artists and the new generations, to whom he will remain related through both his pedagogical and creative activities.