Audio By Carbonatix
Phoenix is brimming with creativity. And every other year, we put the spotlight on 100 of the city’s creative forces. Leading up to the release of this year’s Best of Phoenix issue, we’re profiling 100 more. Welcome to the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives. Up today: 38. Rossitza Todorova.
For Rossitza Todorova, it’s all about the journey.
The Tempe artist was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, raised in Reno, Nevada, and moved to Arizona to pursue her master’s of fine arts in painting and drawing at ASU’s Herberger Institute. Since graduating in 2013, Todorova, who turns 33 this month, has been stockpiling inspiration — when she’s not working at ASU Art Museum, teaching as an adjunct professor at ASU’s School of Art, or creating new works.
See also: Phoenix Dancer Gavin Sisson: 100 Creatives
The roads and infrastructure that lead the artist from one place to another are what inspire her sometimes three-dimensional works that look like linear abstractions of roller coasters or funhouse highways. In the past, she’s created pieces like Zipping Through LA, pictured above, referencing experiences in specific cities through geometric mounds and swirling intersections.
And soon, Todorova will exhibit a new body of such work.
“I am working on a new series of drawings and artist books inspired by all of the places I have traveled over the last year,” Todorova says. “I will have a solo exhibition of new work at the Eye Lounge Project Room, opening in February of 2015.”
Mark your calendars — and your maps.
I came to Phoenix with the desert dust in my wheels and postcard images of saguaros in my imagination. What I found instead is the beauty of endless highways and infinity flyovers crisscrossing the blazing blue sky.
I make art because it is what I love and what I do. I can’t remember a time when I was not an artist. Each art piece is an experiment. I continually ask myself, “What if I try this?” Then I put pencil to paper and solve a problem working with color, composition and materials to create movement, tension and place.Making artwork is rewarding because it’s never boring.
I’m most productive when I have a deadline. The pedal to the metal speed that comes at the end of a project makes me feel like a superhero that cansqueeze the utmost out of every minute and hour.
My inspiration wall is not a white vertical space where I pin things with thumbtacks. I have never really had this kind of wall. My inspiration comes from being in transit:
• commuting,
• driving,
• traveling,
• riding the light rail,
• sitting in the plane looking out the window at the unknown topography of the land,
• the dead time waiting for red to turn green,
• moments lost in daydreaming
• the time it takes for the bicycle brakes to stop me at the intersection,
• that confusion of place
• when I realize I have missed the exit,
• Shadow of the plane swallowing me in darkness from overhead,
• the pain of the last quarter mile of my evening run
My inspiration comes when I am in between thoughts, speeding between destinations, or driftingbetween dreams.
I’ve learned most from traveling outside of my comfort zone, with a skeleton plan of where to go, putting trust in a map and my feet.
Good work should always take you somewhere.After looking at art you should feel dizzy. As if you just stepped out of a portal that showed you theworld as you have never seen it before.
The Phoenix creative scene could use more affordable studio spaces for artists.
See the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives:
100. Bill Dambrova
99. Niki Blaker
98. Jeff Slim
97. Beth May
96. Doug Bell
95. Daniel Langhans
94. Nanibaa Beck
93. Nicole Royse
92. Ib Andersen
91. Casandra Hernandez
90. Chris Reed
89. Shelby Maticic
88. Olivia Timmons
87. Courtney Price
86. Travis Mills
85. Catrina Kahler
84. Angel Castro
83. Cole Reed
82. Lisa Albinger
81. Larry Madrigal
80. Julieta Felix
79. Lauren Strohacker
78. Levi Christiansen
77. Thomas Porter
76. Carrie Leigh Hobson
75. Cody Carpenter
74. Jon Jenkins
73. Aurelie Flores
72. Michelle Ponce
71. Devin Fleenor
70. Noelle Martinez
69. Bucky Miller
68. Liliana Gomez
67. Jake Friedman
66. Clarita Lulić
65. Randy Murray
64. Mo Neuharth
63. Jeremy Hamman
62. La Muñeca
61. Kevin Goldman
60. Emily Costello
59. Kerstin Dale
58. Vara Ayanna
57. Nathaniel Lewis
56. Ruben Gonzales
55. Lisa Poje
54. Bobby Zokaites
53. Frances Smith Cohen
52. Julie Rada
51. David Miller
50. Xanthia Walker
49. Kyllan Maney
48. Cary Truelick
47. Constance McBride
46. James D. Porter
45. Allyson Boggess
44. Abigail Lynch
43. Ashley Cooper
42. Jaclyn Roessel
41. Brandon Boetto
40. Melissa Dunmore
39. Gavin Sisson
