Second Annual “From Dijon to Dallas” Exhibition To Feature Andrew Davis (M.F.A. ’16) and Alice Bidault at Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas, August 23 – September 3, 2016

The second annual “From Dijon to Dallas” exhibition, featuring two artists chosen through an exchange between SMU Meadows and École Nationale Supérieure d’Art (ENSA) of Dijon, France, will be held at the Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas from Tuesday, August 23 through Saturday, September 3, 2016. An opening reception will be held Saturday, August 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. The featured artists are Meadows alumnus Andrew Davis (M.F.A. ’16) and Alice Bidault from Dijon.

The exhibition, curated by Sofia Bastidas, the 2016 Pollock Curatorial Fellow at SMU Meadows, is part of a postgraduate fellowship program launched in 2015 by SMU Meadows and ENSA. Dallas and Dijon are official sister cities. Each year, an artist is selected from each institution to spend a six-week residency on exchange at the other, which includes studio and living spaces and an exhibition in each location. Bidault is serving as an artist-in-residence in Dallas July 11-September 5; Davis will be in residence at ENSA in Dijon in September and October. Following the Dallas exhibition, ENSA will host an exhibition of the two artists’ work at FRAC Bourgogne, opening October 7. The artists were selected through a nomination process at each university, and the final selection was made by Gabriel Ritter, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and formerly Assistant Curator at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Andrew Davis received his M.F.A. from SMU in May 2016 and this summer is attending SOMA, an artistic program in Mexico City. Using sculpture, performance, video and painting, he produces what he calls “habitable diagrams” that negotiate personal desires in relation to ecological catastrophe.

After an education focused on science, Alice Bidault obtained her DNSEP (M.F.A. equivalent) in 2016 at ENSA in Dijon, where she lives and works. She is an active member of ESTRAN Art and Les curious collectives. Her work stems from her research about history, considering how artists relate to history and how they might act upon it.

The Liliana Bloch Gallery is located at 2271 Monitor Street in Dallas (75207). Hours are 12-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, visit lilianablochgallery.com.

For information about the Meadows Division of Art and the Dallas-Dijon exchange program, contact chair Noah Simblist at nsimblis@smu.edu.