Axle Contemporary is an art gallery that operates out of the back of a retrofitted 1970s van in Santa Fe. Mobility and engagement with the community are key features of their work. For example, we remember one Axle event where they turned the van into a kind of midway game where you could throw baseballs at smashable holograms printed on glass. It’s the kind of art that makes living in Santa Fe such a unique experience.
Their new project, The Royal Breadshow (May 2 to 11, visit www.axleart.com for daily gallery locations), draws on that concept of community. Some 269 artists created porcelain miniatures for the show. After the show’s ten-day run, these miniatures will each be baked inside loaves of artisan bread, which people can order. The loaves each come with a “festive paper crown” which has a personalized message written on it.
The loaves, which should be ordered before May 13 for the first pickup and May 20 for the second, cost about $15 each. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Food Depot in Santa Fe to help the hungry.
The Royal Breadshow won SITE Santa Fe’s community micro-grant, Spread 4.0, in October of 2013. Through the generous support of the Spread attendees, The Royal Breadshow began as a room-sized installation at SITE Santa Fe’s exhibition Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art (February 1 to May 18th, 2014). Among other things, the installation at SITE includes writings about bread and presentations of bread and baker’s implements alongside clay and clay tools.
Above image: Work by Anne Russell. Photograph courtesy of Axle Contemporary.