OHIO CITY, Ohio — When it comes to creativity, artists have a language of their own -- and who better to advocate for them than the artists themselves?
With that in mind, four friends came together to create the Impossible Art Store, a new platform and retail space that would allow creatives more control and the opportunity to thrive and receive the recognition they deserve.
"So we are like a one-stop-shop for just the highest quality art, clothes, accessories in Cleveland that are being made," explained co-owner Aiden Meany. "So everything from clothing to pottery, glass, jewelry, fine art, everything on the walls are for sale."
Located at 2901 Detroit Avenue in Cleveland's Hingetown neighborhood, the new venture is hoping to transform the creative landscape to better benefit artists.
"A lot of the culture around art, and a lot of the culture around art enterprise, is inherently a little bit exploitative, where artists sometimes need to suffer and provide their art and their blood, sweat and tears at a price that they don't want or that they feel is unfair," explained store manager Ethan Lindenberger.
But there’s no starving artists at the Impossible Store, they’re doing things differently by keeping the creatives in charge. At the store, they allow artists to set their own custom consignment rate. Meany says their unique subscription model is how they plan to drive revenue.
"Essentially, it's $50 a month. You can go to any live event we hold for free, and then you also get discounts at like everywhere in Ohio City," said Meany.
Their partnerships include neighboring businesses like Rising Star, Jukebox and Larder.
But the true payoff comes from their live events.
"So we decided to double down on our mission to support live acts and musical acts, comedy, spoken word anything that has to be done live," Meany explained.
The Impossible Art team recently gained access to the old masonic temple -- offering a new lease to one of the city’s most historic live entertainment venues.
The store's next show is set for Saturday, March 25, and they’re just hoping to continue defying the definition of the store name.
"Something like this should have existed in Cleveland for a really long time. That's been the number one kind of feedback we've gotten from people," said Meany.
For more information on the Impossible Art Store, you can check them out on social media by clicking here.
*Editor's Note: The video in the player above is from a previous, unrelated report that aired February 4, 2023.