Flour Power

Sorry Lorde, turns out we will all be royals

Matthew Chase-Daniel and Jerry Wellman, the duo behind gallery-on-wheels Axle Contemporary, are used to marching to the beat of their own drum.

On Friday, the pair unveils the first stage of their SPREAD 4.0-winning initiative, The Royal Bread Show.

The dynamic? They'll be taking bread orders this Friday outside SITE Santa Fe. Those interested can pay $10 and up for a loaf that in following Rosca de Reyes tradition, will be stuffed with one of 269 porcelain miniatures.

"The title of the [SITE] show is Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art," Wellman tells SFR. "We were thinking, what does 'radical' mean? And the idea of radical, if you get down to it, is our community—that's the roots."

Elaborating on the idea that "bread is the staff of life" and a root for nourishment, the pair came up with the concept.

They later recruited five local bakeries, including Chez Mamou and Panadería Sani, and the idea materialized.

"We wanted to engage that less pretentious and more inclusive, playful creative spirit," Chase-Daniel says about getting common folk to make the mini sculptures and bakers to showcase their own artform.

The edible objets d'art will be available for pick up on May 17. The loaves will be accompanied by a paper crown with an empowering word hand-scrolled on it.

Both innovative and drawing from ancient tradition, the move, Wellman says goes on to show that "everybody has a certain factor in them that makes them royal."

For the pair, the whole thing seems like kismet.

Asked what their art van's prior incarnation was, Chase-Daniel pauses and smiles, "A Hostess bread truck."

Royal Bread Show

5-7 pm Friday, May 2

SITE Santa Fe 1606 Paseo de Peralta,

989-1199

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