Philly art lovers invited to Germantown's Declaration of iMPeRFeCTioN

If you’re looking for a way to wind down with a bunch of talented locals after your 4th of July parade, you can head to Germantown on Saturday, July 5 for a Declaration of iMPeRFeCTioN at Maplewood Mall’s iMPeRFeCT Gallery, which is celebrating its 2nd anniversary this summer.

Those last two years have been a financial roller coaster for husband-and-wife gallery cofounders Renny Molenaar and Rocio Cabello, but they take pride in operating a gallery and community hub that is truly a diverse and welcoming space for artists and art-lovers of every stripe.

Molenaar and Cabello came to Germantown with their two sons after years of art-making, showing, and curating in New York City. Their intercultural bent is natural: Cabello hails from Peru, and Molenaar was born in Aruba. He’s “part black, part Indian, and part Dutch,” he told me when he and Cabello were mounting their first show at iMPeRFeCT in June 2012. “When I was born, all the cooks got in the kitchen and stirred it up.”

Now that they’ve weathered two years at the gallery, existing month to month on donations from supporters and art sales (though they insist the prospect of sales is the last thing they consider when putting a show together), Molenaar said that with their diverse grassroots roster of fans, donors, and artists, “we’re accomplishing what a lot of institutions are rhetorical about.”

Part of keeping the gallery open is the couple’s monthly “Last Supper,” when friends and supporters bring a cash donation and a dish for a potluck dinner party in the gallery itself.

Saturday’s dinner starts at 7pm and goes until…well, late. It’s the last night to view the gallery’s 2nd Anniversary Show (a curated selection from the past year’s shows), and musically-inclined attendees are also welcome to bring their instrument or sing a song at a post-dinner neighborhood jam.

iMPeRFeCT Gallery’s Declaration of iMPeRFeCTioN Last Supper is happening at 7pm on Saturday, July 5 at 5601 Greene Street, in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, just off Maplewood Mall.