Art exhibit opens July 13 at Karenderya Nyack
Karenderya, one of Esquire Magazine’s Top 20 new restaurants in America, will serve up food-for-thought with a new exhibition “Fil-Am Road,” featuring photography and paintings by Gloria and Vina Cacho Orden, and selected works from the collective, Baguio Group of Artists. It will be on view from July 13 to October 13, 2019.
The restaurant – owned by Cheryl Baun and executive chef Paolo Mendoza — takes inspiration from the carenderias, the accessible street side eateries that populate the Philippines. In the same vein, “Fil-Am Road” exhibits artwork of streets as a site of struggle and hope for everyday people.
Cultural studies scholar and curator J. Faith Cacho Almiron explained, “The title draws upon a wordplay on the identification term ‘Filipino-American,’ as well as the movement between the Philippines and America. It also signifies an actual roadway in Baguio City, the Philippines where the Cacho ancestral home stands today. The artwork traverses across time and space from the 1970s to the contemporary moment, from the Philippines to New York, and beyond. Viewers will be privy to a conversation between two distinct yet linked generations–a mother and daughter dwelling at the intersection of art, politics and transformation.”
Painter Gloria Cacho Orden was amongst the vanguard female artists of the Baguio Group of Artists (BGA), an influential arts collective founded in 1977 by Effren Chavez and Santi Bose, a visual artist of international acclaim. She trained with artist Darnay Demetillo at the University of the Philippines in Baguio. Her paintings in the exhibition portray landscapes and roadways of the Philippines during the late 1970s, a time of great social tumult. The show will also feature a photo mosaic of contemporary street art in Baguio and Orden’s homage to “Manang Lisa,” an ironic take on Mona Lisa created by fellow BGA members Roland Bay-an, Salvador Cabrera, Tan Dulag and Sherwood. Similar to Nyack, Baguio prides itself on being a haven of art, culture and social justice. The exhibition builds an imaginary bridge between both places and others like it.
Vina Orden, daughter of Gloria, will present two mixed-media self-portraits conveying, “the experience of hyphenated American identities,” a topic she explores in her popular blog Hyffeinated (medium.com/hyffeinated). As an immigrants’ rights and social justice advocate, she has created an oeuvre of protest art for the We Make America artist/activist collective, the New York Immigration Coalition, and the Malaya Movement, a U.S.-based movement against killings and dictatorship and for democracy in the Philippines. Drawing from their immigrant experiences, the artwork of Gloria and Vina challenges the notion that borders define a nation or that home ever signifies a singular place or time.
Said Karenderya owner Baun, “We placed this quote by Cesar Chavez on our walls from the very beginning: ‘If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him. The people who give you their food, give you their heart.'” In these challenging times, this statement reads as a mandate to grow community across difference through culture—be it food or art.
An opening reception for the artists will be Thursday, July 11 at 6:30PM at Karenderya featuring live music by Noel “Chiko” and TJ Cacho.
Karenderya is a Filipino-inspired restaurant, based loosely on the affordable, roadside eateries of the Philippines. Its menu includes both traditional and modern Filipino dishes, as well as referencing other Southeast Asian flavors.
© The FilAm 2019