The Absynthe Gallery - Philadelphia, PA

When my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in March of 2020, it made me realize how fragile life is & how valuable our time is here & how important it is that while we are here that we leave some sort of legacy behind. A month later, amidst me having to literally drop everything I had going on at the time (because of my mother's cancer & the pandemic) I decided that it was time to really utilize all of my knowledge from art & working in marketing to start something that would do just that..and so I began, The Absynthe Gallery. Little did I know it would all bring me in front of you here, today.

 

After a year and some change now of deliberating on just what I'de like to do with The Absynthe Gallery and where it would all eventually go, I have finally decided that I would like to open our 1st physical location in the City Of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia, Pa.

 

However, I cannot do this alone financially. Getting a small business bank loan requires a whole lot of earned revenue ( I have built this gallery out of pocket from the ground up) & after several failed attempts at trying to find an investor to financially back this art gallery I am now hoping that after a year and a half of spreading art from all over the place, & proving that I WILL work for YOU. You might be able to help us spread this GoFundMe Campaign so we can raise enough money to physically open the Absynthe Gallery in Philadelphia.

 

This GoFundMe Campaign will raise just enough money to put the Absynthe Gallery in business for our 1st year in Philly and I am hoping that we might be able to surpass it for a little bit more wiggle room, however, if we don't, we will still be very grateful if we can hit the target and make this happen for us. The Absynthe Gallery.

 

The Absynthe Gallery - Philadelphia, Pa

 

My plan for the Absynthe Gallery is really quite simple. We will be a 100% inclusive & ethically run art gallery space which will advocate for emerging visual artists of many different & diverse backgrounds.

 

The front of our space will serve as a retail space for artists that make handmade art goods, jewelry & apparel and it will all be curated by my friend -----> @msamethystforever @juicygoth

 

The back of our space will serve as an open gallery space where Alicia and I both will be able to have shows once a month, as well as allow for a space for artist led lectures, classes, workshops (by local & visiting artists) along with occassional paint & draw events, which will all be managed and curated by me, James.

 

Lastly, the Absynthe Gallery will work as an art exchange.

 

So what exactly is an art exchange you might ask ?

 

Simply put, we will work in conjunction with The Brooklyn Art [email redacted].cave and other smaller galleries in our area, as well to circulate peoples art from New York City into Philadelphia and vice versa give artists from Philly a place to circulate their art into New York City. ❤

 

This gallery will work & succeed. I know it will succeed because of the amount of love it was built upon, as well as the amount of grit & determination I still have for it, in what have literally been some of the darkest, most adverse and trying times I have ever had to face personally in order to still be here pushing this all forward.

 

I am still here.

 

We are still here.

 

And, I don't plan on stopping our momentum anytime soon. Or to loosely quote, my dear friend, Dee in London.

 

"We are here until the wheels fall off."

 

It is true. ✌

 

Thank you, Dee.

 

And, Anthony for inspiring me to do this.... I really have so much love for you both as artists and humans. ❤

 

And so today, I come to you with our plan for the Absynthe Gallery-Philadelphia in the hopes that you can either donate towards our GoFundMe Campaign or pass our message along and help it spread to others in the same ways we have passed art along for the past year and a half.

 

Thank you.

 

With Love & Gratitude

 

The Absynthe Gallery - Philadelphia, Pa.