BIOGRAPHY

Ted Somogyi attended the School of Visual Arts and Art Students League of New York. He also traveled to Switzerland, Europe and India studying Indian philosophy. After returning to the U.S., he received a B.F.A. degree from the San Francisco Academy of Art. The following year he was accepted to the MFA program at the San Francisco Art Institute but declined the invitation and instead began his professional life. 

 

Mr. Somogyi started his Industrial Design work at the Burdick Group, an interdisciplinary industrial design collective, working on the Global Exhibit System for AT&T, NY and Olivetti, Milan IT. Other projects included the ARAMCO Museum in Dhahran, SA. Esprit De Corp Store Environments and Herman Miller furniture design. He then founded his own cooperative Studio 260, a 5000 sq ft collaborative studio and manufacturing facility incorporating industrial design and fabrication with a modular sound stage, exhibition, and performance facilities. 

 

Studio 260 projects included 2-time CLIO Award nominated MTV videos with Henry Selick Projects. Educational exhibits for the GGNRA & NPS. And theatrical effects for Beach Blanket Babylon, Colossal Pictures and the Black Repertory Theater Group. Additional studio projects included, Darkened Waters: Profile of an Oil Spill. And Columbus on Trial with Lourdes Portillo and Alessandro Moruzzi featured at the 1993 Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial, NY. Mr. Somogyi has received grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Friends of Urban Arts and Culture, The Puffin Foundation Grant, and the National Animation Award for Art Direction by the Society of Animation.

 

Mr. Somogyi’s multi-media work has been shown at Afternoon Tea: 54th Venice Biennale, curated by the WW Gallery, London, UK. Art Basel Miami with Projects Gallery, Miami, FL. An Exchange with Sol LeWitt at MASS MoCA. In the Beginning: Exploring Origins in Contemporary Art, Penn Humanities Forum. The Micro Museum, Brooklyn, NY. The Cradle Project, Albuquerque NM, “a fundraising installation designed to represent the plight of the estimated 48 million children who have been orphaned by disease and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.” - curated by Naomi Natale. He has also taught and lectured at the San Francisco Academy of Art, University of California at Berkeley Extension and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, CA.