Been a while since I posted here, so let me do a quick recap of another traipse.
No thanks to rerouting did a once simple trip to Eton Centris require me to take a train one station away, not counting the extra walking. The events place Elements isn't even close to the station, giving you an opportunity to look at how sparse the area actually is. You see, Eton Centris feels more like a company town or a stopover than a shopping center: Mostly outdoors, 24/7 open eateries, call centers, its location at a busy intersection nowhere near a residence compensated by a railway station. There are still shoppers to merit shops selling non-perishables, but most of the patron you'll see there are taking a break from work.
Right, onto the event proper. Elements as a venue is a large version of a wedding reception or debut venue. It's large enough for a proper con but isn't really suited for it. This is my second excursion to this place, the first one also an art marketplace prompted by an artist's post on their social. Surprisingly I came in early enough to get in for free, so the next step is to look for the only reason I even bothered: a streamer I watch. My only hints are her username and art style, not enough information in a place where there are over a hundred other artists showing off their wares.
There's a lot of people, a lot of tables, I'd list the sorts of people that are in there but if I did I'd be put on a different list. To say I understand nothing about the fandoms and the witty quips on the typography would be an understatement, but then again this is how it usually goes for me. I have grown tired of the sassy statement merchandise to be honest, but a generation speaks this way and I worry.
Soon enough I find who I'm looking for, to be nice about this without disclosing any information: the usual discrepancy between an online persona and its owner is more striking if the former is in the form of a drawing. It's always a great surprise to introduce yourself as this and that, but you can only pull that off once. I bought a couple of commissions and a sticker, being the broke guy that I am, and went back on train to Trinoma once I'm done and had a late lunch.
The mess of construction in that area meant that the bridge between Trinoma and SM North Edsa has been cut off, now people have to cross the busy North Avenue, one of the many factors creating traffic in the already traffic-prone North Ave-EDSA junction. Road traffic is one thing, but both malls are also congested this weekend.
Now let me end with some observations coming from me who's fully aware I won't be there to sell my work: Every alley I've visited has always been the same: a bunch of small artists trying to get by selling not only their creations but their sentiments, it's a real gallery of both freaks and art, but ironically they all seem to be the same; the same messages ring in every other sticker, everyone seems to have the same disposition to life. At that point it's probably the nature of these things to attract such people (maybe also something about the artist psyche), but I do think, and I know what I'm saying, putting a bunch of relative weirdos in a room doesn't really result in a variety of people.
