In the blazing heat of this record-breaking summer, I stopped into Absolute Abstract in Midtown Village for a quick respite from the sizzling sidewalks.
Proprietors David White and James McManaman greeted me with a chilled lavender-scented towel to wipe off the grime from the street. This was just a small example of the hospitality offered at this welcoming gay-owned and -operated art store. The store concept is dual: Be the go-to place for affordable decorative art and provide a venue for up-and-coming artists to showcase their work in an approachable and relaxed setting. You never have to ask for a price as everything is clearly marked, and you will always feel comfortable coming in as you are. I stopped back this week to learn a little more about the business and co-owner David White.
PGN: I know you love Philadelphia, but where are you originally from? DW: I was born and raised in Mesa, Ariz., which is right outside of Phoenix, so I have been accustomed to the heat that Philadelphia’s been recently experiencing, but not the humidity. It’s a real butt-kicker.
PGN: What brought you to Philadelphia? DW: My partner James and I, who have been together for almost 20 years, did a lot of traveling. We went to South Africa to open a new hotel there, then went to Asia for seven years, then returned to Arizona, then California, then Virginia and, from there, we found Philadelphia and really liked the spirit of Philadelphia. Boy, that sounds like a slogan.
PGN: I think it’s actually a boat! DW: [Laughs.] Oh yeah, it is! My brother lived here for 10 years before we did and we got to know the city during visits to see him. We’d always wanted to start our own business and this part of town seemed perfect. It hadn’t really been developed yet, so it was still reasonable to rent here and we saw great potential in the area. There’s been amazing growth in the past five to six years and we’ve expanded the store twice.
PGN: How did you meet? DW: I was working at a restaurant in Arizona called Pischke’s Paradise. It was the type of place that always had a line out the door. The owner’s motto was “No sniveling,” so if people complained while waiting in line for a table, he would walk up to them and say, “You can go now.” People who worked there stayed forever, so to get a job there you literally had to wait for someone to die or move out of town. A friend of mine worked there and was going to retire. At her wedding, she hooked me up with the owner and got me her job. While I was working there and finishing up my degree in journalism at Arizona, James came in with some friends. We had mutual acquaintances and ended up hanging out after I got off. We went out dancing and have been together ever since!
PGN: Siblings? DW: I have an older sister, Ellen: then there was me. Well, I guess there is still me! Then a younger brother Gary, who’s also gay, and a baby sister Susan. The women are all still in Arizona and my brother and I live here. My father passed away when I was 12. My mom comes out every year to visit us. We try to have an adventure each time she comes here. This year, we did swimming with the sharks at the aquarium and went kayaking. In past years we’ve been canoeing, rock climbing and zip-lining up in Spring Mountain.
PGN: Mom sounds adventurous. DW: Oh yes, on the first rapids we came to she hit a tree. James and I were ahead of her and we heard her calmly yell, “I’m over!” We figured she meant she was over the rapid, but she meant that she’d tipped over, so I jumped out and slogged my way back upstream to help her. The water isn’t super deep, but her boat had filled and she couldn’t get back upright. She was fine and only tipped one other time.
PGN: What did you enjoy doing as a kid? DW: I swam competitively since I was about 5 and, in my teens, I worked as a lifeguard over the summers. After high school, I kind of let it go, which I really regret. Maybe I’ll join the LGBT swim team. I just read about the Fins at the Gay Games in Cologne.
PGN: When did you come out? DW: I was 26, so it was pretty late. My brother came out five or six years ahead of me. I think I felt pressure to keep it hidden because my mother already had one gay child and I didn’t want to put her through a second one. I knew I was born gay, but just thought I could suppress it and live a “typical straight” life. When you think about that stuff, think about how unfair it is to everyone else. The basis of any relationship would have been a lie. It’s crazy, and 26 years is a lot of life lived without being true to myself.
PGN: Most unusual job? DW: I worked at Club Med as a trapeze instructor. It was the mid-’80s and it was a blast. I worked for them at several different locations and it was a very casual and fun workplace. You know, in hindsight, one benefit of being closeted was that I would have come out during the first ravages of AIDS, before we really knew what was happening. Working at Club Med and being in pretty good shape, I probably would have had a lot of opportunities to play around. Had I done so, I might not be here now. I have mixed emotions about it.
PGN: How on earth did you become a trapeze instructor? DW: Believe it or not, you could take a course in Club Med at Arizona State University. It was a three-credit, eight-week course. I was sent to Playa Blanca in Mexico to work as a sailing instructor. I didn’t know how to sail. I got a two-day crash course and then began teaching people how to sail. They were just little dinky boats. I got an A in the class and then contacted the Club Med people to see if I could get a job. There was a circus school at one of the Club Med facilities and I started working there. I soon got onto the circus team and they taught me how to do trapeze work and I eventually learned to be a catcher. My height was a real benefit there. I also learned how to juggle and did a bike act with five girls on a bike.
PGN: Let’s talk about your work now. When did you open the business? DW: We opened Absolute Abstract in March of 2006. We carry art that is printed on the best-quality linen — art canvas. It’s UV-protected and built to last a lifetime. We currently have over 5,000 images to choose from.
PGN: You do a lot of work with the community … DW: James more so than me. He’s on the board of the Independence Business Alliance [the local LGBT chamber of commerce] and started the merchant association here: As a business, we really try to give back. We get several requests a week for donations and we try to give as much as we can, though sometimes you have to say no.
PGN: Do you think being an LGBT business has helped or hurt? DW: I don’t think it has made any difference. We just are who we are. When we went to the bank for a loan, they didn’t ask if we were gay or straight, just what kind of credit we had. I don’t greet people at the door by saying, “Welcome to our gay-owned store!” Of course, being in the Gayborhood is nice, and I think other gay people who know that we are a couple feel comfortable being themselves in our store. But we have a lot of straight customers and they could care less.
PGN: What is the funniest question you get in the store? DW: “Did you paint all of these yourself?” It’s funny because there are so many different styles of painting, I’d have to be quite brilliant to do all that.
PGN: How did you come up with the idea for the store? DW: Well, I have no art background aside from enjoying it and collecting art wherever we’ve traveled. When we moved to Virginia, I worked in a gallery/art store. They would get these prints on canvas that were gallery wrapped, which is when the image goes around the side. They’d sell within days and I wondered why the owner didn’t order more of them. He told me it was because he didn’t make enough of a profit. With posters and paintings, he could upcharge for all the accessories, the framing, the matting, glass, etc. When we were thinking about a business, I remembered how well those pictures sold, and wondered if you sold just them, would it be enough to make a profit. We ran the numbers and decided yes, and here we are. It’s great, you can get large, wall-filling paintings for a fair price. [Laughs.] We tell people, it’s OK to match your sofa. This is decorative art. We’re all about making it work for your space. It’s not about investing $20,000 for a small collector’s piece that’s 12×12. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I just don’t hang around people who are able to do that. It’s nice to be able to offer something that’s affordable for people.
PGN: In what store would you choose to max out your credit card? DW: Oh, I wouldn’t! I’m the saver in this relationship. Maxing out a card … the thought scares me! Being that overextended …
PGN: Any nicknames? DW: When I was at Club Med, I was still pretty lanky. Doing trapeze work as the catcher, I’d stretch to grab people and I got the nickname Gumby.
PGN: Celebrity encounter? DW: My mother is a big “Top Chef” fan. When she was here, we went to 10 Arts for dinner because the chef there, Jennifer Carroll, was one of the finalists on the show. After dinner we got to go into the kitchen and meet her.
PGN: Award you’ve won? DW: I recently won the Welcome America window-decorating contest. We won for best small window display. I took our LOVE statue photo blocks and tinted them red, white and blue and arranged them into the American flag.
PGN: What actor should play you in your life story? DW: When I was living in Thailand, I would constantly be told that I looked like John Ritter, but I guess he couldn’t do my life story because he’s dead. The other comparison I would get was Kevin Costner, which I don’t see at all. But if I could choose, I’d pick that kid from the vampire series, Taylor Lautner. He has the body I’ve always wanted!
PGN: Where would you suggest people travel? DW: My number-one spot, especially if you like beaches, would be Bali. There’s something about it that’s indescribably, I’d say magical, but I don’t like words like that. It has everything: mountains, beaches and a special je ne sais quoi.
PGN: A fun incident overseas? DW: Americans are already an anomaly in Asia, but because of my height I was like a rock star. My hair was longer and blond and I had more of it, and when I’d walk down the street people would literally stop and stare. I loved it. Here, people just walk past you without looking.
PGN: Something surprising? DW: I think living overseas, I’ve found that they’re much more open to foreigners than we are in America. They are more open to helping out with our needs and are more patient helping us when we don’t know the language. Something we take for granted in America: There are 15 different types of peanut butter when you go to the grocery store. In Asia, I was lucky if I could find one. We have so much here and we complain about it. We take a lot for granted.
PGN: How do you think having traveled the world has personally helped you? DW: Living abroad definitely gives you a different perspective on people and things. It’s definitely made me a more rounded person. More forgiving.
PGN: What’s next for Absolute? DW: Well, we started with Absolute Abstract and then expanded with Absolute Pop, which offers art blocks at $39 a pop. We’ve recently added “Absolute Philadelphia,” a collection of Philadelphia photographs available in black and white or full color. I have one client who buys the Love statue print as a gift whenever he has a wedding to go to, which is such a lovely idea. We also now have the vintage tin signs, which James thought was the worst idea ever, but they’ve been pretty popular. One interesting bonus is that the Pop side of the store is so much more casual than the other side that it’s really drawn in a lot of new customers who start there and then wander in and find the Abstract side. We briefly opened up a shop in South Philadelphia on Passyunk, but we found that a lot of the customers there were still shopping downtown, so we were fishing from the same pond. But we haven’t ruled out opening another location.
Absolute Abstract 141 S. 13th St. (215) 733-0190 www.absoluteabstractart.com
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