Mihail Simeonov
Mihail Simeonov is a Bulgarian artist living who lived in New York prior to 2005.
He is best known for his Cast the Sleeping Elephant Project, a life-size bronze statue of an African elephant. It was produced in 1980 by making an alginate cast of a live, wild Kenyan elephant bull, which survived the 72 minute process unharmed. The bronze statue made from the cast was inaugurated in 1998 by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and is installed at UN Headquarters in New York.
Simeonov v. Tiegs, a lawsuit Simeonov brought in 1993 against model Cheryl Tiegs, is a leading case in the field of artists' rights under U.S. law. The court held that Simeonov's First Amendment right to free speech in making casts of Tiegs's body outweighed her right to privacy.
Since 2005, Simeonov has resided in Pawtucket Rhode Island. In September 2019, to commemorate Simenov's 75th anniversary as a practicing sculptor, his adopted home town honored him with an exhibit in Pawtucket City Hall as well the award of a Key to the City presented by the by Mayor Donald Grebian
