Angie's Community Cookbook - 11 x 14 oil on prepared paper
Nourish – A project organized by the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art
Nourish is a unique exhibition that has paired 12 artists from our community with food experts. The pairs will collaborate, learn from one another, inspire creativity thinking, and explore the possibilities at the intersection of food and art. The experts have unique insight on the food culture of our region and come from a broad range of occupations including farmers, chefs, nutritionists, writers, food justice and antihunger advocates, and more. To nourish, is to provide the food necessary for growth and health. It also means to listen, care, and support one another, our community, our land, our minds, our society, and our futures. Nourish will debut newly created artworks by these twelve artists. The exhibition and related educational programming will encourage members of our community to forge new connections with each other and gain a greater understanding of the challenges of filling our plates. MOCA invited artist Ken García Oláes to take part in this project and exhibition. As both a talented artist and owner of Angie’s Bakery, Oláes acts as his own expert. He is exploring his connection to the community that his business serves through his art.
Ken García Oláes is both an artist and the owner and baker at Angie’s Bakery in Virginia Beach. His partner for Nourish is not one individual or organization, but rather the community that gets their baked goods from his bakery. García Oláes trained in illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University. He was working as a graphic designer for the US Navy Exchange when a bakery owned by his extended family came up for sale. The artist’s family asked if he would buy the bakery and take up the challenge of running this small business. He now owns Angie’s Bakery, which specializes in Filipino breads and pastries. But the artist did not turn away from his artmaking practice. In addition to running his business, García Oláes consistently kept up both his studio practice and his desire to share his love of painting.
For this project, his art and his business are merged. The bakery is not only a source of physical nourishment, but a connection to a culture and community.
Food plays an integral role in shaping the identity of almost every culture around the globe. For the Filipino community in Virginia Beach, this means going to the bakery to stock up on pandesal and other baked goods. Pandesal is the quintessential bread roll of the Philippines. Like croissants in France and naan in India, pandesal is woven into the culinary culture of the patrons who come to Angie’s. These paintings reveal the stories and memories of the bread that provides connection and comfort to the big and small moments like holidays, celebrations, and everyday meals.
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