A:D:Curatorial is pleased to present Alina Bliumis’s exhibion. The title refers to Bliumis’s creative method that functions like her personal algorithm: the artist researches and finds a pattern in subject matter that interests her, ergo arrays and displays it. What makes this series of works special is Bliumis’s viewpoint. She is a research-based artist who approaches historical and political moments through the lens of the natural world. There are three series presented in the exhibition: The Masses (2019-20), Endangered(portraits of extinct and endangered flowers), (2022) andIn The Center of Europe (2020).
The exhibition opens with eight posters of In The Center of Europe (2020) displayed on a bright yellow wall; these photos of various centers of Europe display the shifting perception of ‘center’ starting from 1775 up to 2000. At different periods in human history people representing different disciplines and criteria declared all these eight spots to be the center of Europe and erected memorial landmarks. This inevitably brings to mind Pierro Manzoni’s Magic Base where once you step on it you become a living sculpture; In The Center of Europe you declare a place to be the center, put the monument up and it becomes the center of Europe.
In Masses, black and white floating cotton fabric pieces depict closeups of crowds and combine digital print and watercolor. From front-page news images of protest, civil unrest and soldiers to mass celebrations of Dionysian excess in the rock concert or erotic entanglements of an orgy, Masses make one experience loss of self in crowds. Physically maneuvering the space to view the suspended floating Masses, the lightness of displayed works resembles the full body physical experience of social media scrolling.
If in Masses it’s impossible to identify individual characters, Endangeredflowers have very distinct and unique faces. In other words, all the personhood lost in Masses can be found in these anthropocentric, amusing portraits of endangered or extinct flowers. The undeniable calamity implied in the title of these series (Endangered: portraits of extinct and endangered flowers) while paired with gaiety of flowers is whimsical.
Whimsical is the adjective best used to describe the rationale behind the array and display of Bliumis’s works: images of long extinct flowers are turned into portraiture, images of crowds loose the context and reason of their gathering, and there are eight monuments in various parts of Europe claiming to be its center.
The exhibition is made possible by the generous support of the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Alina Bliumis is New York-based artist, born in Minsk, Belarus. Alina received her BFA from the School of Visual Art in 1999 and a diploma from the Advanced Course in Visual Arts in Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Italy in 2005.
Alina has exhibited internationally at the Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, France, the First Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (Moscow, Russia), Busan Biennale (Busan, South Korea), Assab One (Milan, Italy), the Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York, US), Galerie Anne de Villepoix (Paris, France), Centre d’art Contemporain (Meymac, France), the James Gallery, The Graduate Center CUNY (New York, US), Museum of Contemporary Art (Cleveland, US), Museums of Bat Yam (Bat-Yam, Israel), the Jewish Museum (New York, US), the Saatchi Gallery (London, UK), Botanique Museum (Brussels, Belgium), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK), MAC VAL - Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne (France).
Her works are in various private and public collections, including Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, Paris, France; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Russia; Bat Yam Museum for Contemporary Art, Israel; 21c Museum Hotels, USA; The Saatchi Collection, UK; The Harvard Business School, USA; The National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, USA, Missoni Collection, Italy and MAC VAL - Musée d’art contemporain du Val- de-Marne, France.
Irena Popiashvili is Dean and Founder of Visual Arts, Architecture & Design School, VA[A}DS, at the Free University of Tbilisi. She also established the contemporary art space Kunsthalle Tbilsi. Previously she co-owned Newman Popiashvili Gallery in New York (2005-2012) and served as a director of the State Academy of Arts in Tbilisi in 2012. Ms. Popiashvili has curated exhibitions in the US and Europe (notably, the Georgian Pavilion in Venice Biennale in 1999). She received a BA from Tbilisi State University and University of Lodz, Poland and an MA in art history from University of Georgia in Athens, GA (USA).
