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Asheville Pop Culture Art Gallery Needs Help To Stave Off Eviction

ZaPow exterior

Jonathan Rich writes for BleedingCool.

A North Carolina art gallery specializing exclusively in pop culture art is facing eviction in almost two weeks, but shop owners and more than 100 artists displaying their work there hope an online funding campaign can keep ZaPow! Inc. at its home in downtown Asheville.

"In an email, our landlord notified us that he is raising our rent by 22%, requiring an additional $6,000 deposit, reducing our rent grace period to two days,"  explained ZaPow! cofounder Lauren Patton in an impassioned email plea to her mailing list. "And, as the cherry on top, he gave us only 18 days to decide if we will accept these terms and remain open in our current location, close or move elsewhere.

According to Patton, if the business fails to commit in writing to those terms by June 30th, the property owner will put for lease signs in ZaPow's windows on July 1.

In 2011, writer and illustrator Patton opened ZaPow in the popular Western North Carolina tourist town with her husband multi-media producer Matt Johnson. Since that time, the one floor art gallery has been promoted in various national and regional tourism and art magazines as well as USA Today and is the home of the Figures Sold Separately podcast.

Patton explained how shocked she was regarding the short notice imposed on her business and the artists showing their work there.

"From the tone of his correspondence, it seems that he would prefer to fill our space with a national chain like Starbucks," she wrote in her email spreading the words about these developments. "We are scrambling to work with local commercial Real Estate Brokers and Attorneys to decide how to proceed."

However, Patton hopes a newly created online funding campaign could make a difference in her gallery's future.

"If you love the contribution that ZaPow makes to Asheville's culture and you want us to keep bringing you the best in illustration, narrative and pop culture art, please consider helping our art family," she asked.

To make a donation, visit GoFundMe.com/ZaPow.

"Share our GoFundMe page and donate what you can," she added,"108 artists will be so thankful for your support."

And now the local media is involved…

Jonathan Rich is a freelance journalist, high school educator, and self-professed comic book nerd working in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. He writes about entertainment and pop culture for various print and web publications, including bleedingcool.com.


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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