What happened at the Riverbanks Mall

For the INK’s Animalaya Exhibit opening, here were some fresh experiences of mine:

One would be watching the Oishi mascot have his picture taken under a cute yellow rubber-foam bird with beady black rubber-foam eyes – which looks very much like the mascot himself. I didn’t know the bird I made would illicit such a connection with our sponsor’s mascot.

Another experience would be seeing visitors point at my painting… to where the unwanted blemish of my stamped chinese name could be seen. I tried to get it out the day before but only made the digital paint rub off…. fortunately, it’s only a print – there are other copies for sale. I SO wanted to tell the visitors that!

Some shared experiences would be witnessing a short flurry of fists at the Worlds of Fun arcade right beside the exhibit area. Two gentlemen wanted to make each other black and blue. Fortunately there was a security guard there and no more children left at our exhibit area.

Besides the violence, everything went smoothly – perhaps even better if not for the rain outside. We got to eat. We got enough ambiance to make us deaf. “‘SUP?” – was the loudest word for the day – right next to “MIC TEST”.

Things I hope we at INK could do as standard operating procedure would be to:

1. Include some mention of which works are for sale – and who to contact. Last year’s exhibit had the price listed but not this year. Iinforming people our works are either for sale or not really matters – or why else even ask us to give a price? I think it further expresses that we ARE a group of professional illustrators. Plus, it makes a good conversation topic with the locals. You may actually catch someone looking at your artwork and saying “Ayyy… ang mura” (Wow so cheap) and then you can move in and close a sale!

2. The pins Haribon had done of our artworks would have been a great means for visitors to make the connection between the artwork with the artist. For the next exhibit, I’ll be making a pin of my artwork and sticking it on my shirt. Shameless perhaps to some… but I wouldn’t mind having people approach me and ask about the artwork.

3. On a more social note, (okay… not 100% social) I think the exhibit opening is the best time for INKies to actually go around and ask each other about their work. Maybe it’s just me – I like to hear the behind-the-scenes… I like to learn how my fellow artists did their work, how much it cost, how long it took. Why the price or no price. — of course it’s also the best time to connect with patrons and clients – so we should allow for both to happen at the same time!

Here’s looking forward to our exhibit at the Bookfair!