International Artists Seek Bronx Participants for "A Painting For A Family Dinner"

Here is a husband and wife art team seeking Bronx residents to participate in a contemporary art project. It sounds like a lot of fun and a chance to be part of a historical event in our borough. On what other occasion can you have your family portrait displayed in the Bronx Museum of the Arts? If they can convince my wife and they choose to have dinner with us, we're in!.

Gregory
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ALINA AND JEFF BLIUMIS
A PAINTING FOR A FAMILY DINNER / BRONX, NY

April 4 - June 4, 2012

"New York based husband and wife artist team are offering a painting in exchange for an invitation to a family dinner. Please, email or call for more info."

Alina and Jeff Bliumis are placing a call for participation from Bronx residents via local media and social networking sites starting in April 2012. The artists are hoping for families to respond so they can visit as many homes as possible during April and May 2012. No agenda is set for their conversations and they are open to any discussion that might occur. The artists will create a painting for each occasion. Each painting will be a still life with fruits and "Thank You for Your Dinner!" written in the middle. At the end of each dinner all participants will be seated on a family couch with the painting hung above the couch and a family portrait will be taken by a photographer. The painting will then stay with the family and documentation will be on display at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, April 4 - June 4, 2012. The exhibition will be a show in progress, starting with the call for participation flyer and as dinners happen the resulting photographs will be added to the show.

The artists are basing their project on a simple social exchange: providing a product/painting and in return receiving dinner and company/social interaction. Through this exchange, the artists initiate an unlikely meeting point and a set of conversations, as well as eliminate the numerous steps separating the artist and the audience, artwork and its owner. A Painting for a Family Dinner / Bronx, NY creates a situation in which both initiator and receiver are equal and active participants in the creation of the artwork.

A Painting for a Family Dinner / Bronx, NY is produced by No Longer Empty in connection with This Side of Paradise exhibition at Andrew Freedman Home, 1125 Grand Concourse, Bronx NY, April 4 - June 4, 2012.

This Side of Paradise references the past and reconnects the vision of Andrew Freedman to today's Bronx and its realities. The exhibition and its extensive public programming onsite and offsite will draw together the economic and social history of the Home with the present day realities of the Bronx and its residents. No Longer Empty's core mission is to widen the audience for contemporary art by presenting high-caliber, sitespecific public art exhibitions in the heart of communities. No Longer Empty draws together the vitality of the contemporary art world and the values of community building.

Alina and Jeff Bliumis's practice explores cultural standards, foreignness and national identity through sculptural installations, often placed in communal spaces, which incorporate public dialogue. Their works have been exhibited internationally including the First, Second and Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (Moscow, Russia), Busan Biennale 2006 (Busan, South Korea), Assab One (Milan, Italy), Castlefield Gallery (London, UK), Andrea Meislin Gallery (New York, USA), Stanislas Bourgain Gallery (Paris, France), Centre d'art Contemporain (Meymac, France), Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland (Cleveland, USA), Bat-Yam Museum (Bat-Yam, Israel), The Jewish Museum (New York, USA) and The Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK).

A Painting for a Family Dinner / Bronx, NY will be on view at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY. April 4- June 4, 2012/ 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th St, Bronx, New York 10456 / 718.681.6000