Friday, December 18, 2009

The battle has been won!









When I set out to open my gallery/studio I had no idea I would be tied up in legal red tape for 6 months. I approached Frenchtown boro with my plan for an Art Studio with Tattooing. They immediately resisted the idea and directed me to get a variance. Typically municipality’s use the variance as a way to drain the business owner of all money and intimidate them so they go away. This has happened many times to tattoo studio owners. I was not a big fan of this idea. But after a while of trying every way to get around it was the only option. So it cost me a bundle, but it got me here. I have learned a lot from this experience. Not only about Zoning laws and small town bureaucracy but how much the people of my community matter. If it wasn’t for the positive force that showed their support for me at the meeting, I may have been voted down. So now I can move forward.

Tattooing has been my passion for 17 years now. Watching my profession grow from a fringe art form and then explode to a widely accepted televised reality. It has exceeded all my expectations. Having opened Immortal Ink in the fall of 99 the future was wide open. I felt scarred and didn’t know if Tattooing would work here in Hunterdon County. After a year and thousands of Tattoos burned on the flesh of locals and tourists all my fears had been gone. The past ten years I have grown as an artist and a family man. Ive watched my Best friend Josh Kohn build a strong clientele and has helped put Immortal ink on the map. This is why I have to pass the torch to my fellow tattooists at Immortal and move on.

Rich Cahill Studio is a multi media studio specializing in Tattooing, Outsider Art, and Illustration. I will feature my own pen and ink drawings, acrylic painting, as well as art works by Norbert Kox, Anna Sea, Frank Bruno, Crag Rodriguez and many more. I look forward to the quarterly art shows and meeting artists from all over.

Stop in and visit if your in the Frenchtown area.

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