Artist Alley - Seen @ STGCC 2011
"Artist Alley" this year at STGCC was a predominantly comicbook / illustrators' domain. Folks included in this year's melee included ROCKETRAYGUN, Ray Toh, Sonny Liew, Leninil Yu, Benjamin Ang, Ardian Syaf, Harvey Tolibao and KEATOPIA (Ong Ean Keat) etc = it was eye-candy galore for fans of the 2D-realms.
Craft-wise we had folks like Kikeimono with her handmade-plush, and even merch from Roomism, Eightyfourcube and Shabowl Brothers & Scarfille. Folks like Custom Workz & Ink Fusion saw custom toys and costly, while HairyAsHell provided sculpted works.
The sole "art toy" angle came from the Andrew Bell booth (helmed by Ozzo Collection) which offered the Singapore-Edition of O-No-Sashimi, and a tinge from ZiQi's MonsterLittle booth which premiered a look at his QiQi sculpt, alongside a Munny-custom and CE + Dweey combo. Dweey the short-neck giraffe was also represented at the Dweey & Liselle booth, although it would have been nice to see customized versions of it for show, IMHO.
Truth be told - compared to last year - this year seems a tad underwhelming, but perhaps for the lack of 'art toys' to be seen (I might be wholly biased here). But maybe "underwhelming" might be a harsh tag to label, as perhaps the aim was to make "Artist Alley" a more literal representation of 2D-work, versus any showcasing of 3D-work.
For sure the production toys rule the bigger booths on the Con-floor, but what about the smaller producers? Will we ever see a concept like "The Cultyard" ala NYCC - where a collective of art toy exhibitors merge to engulf a bigger space right in the heart of the event? Or would they eventually congregate at Artist Alley? I'm better the later (If I were in any healthier state, I'd make the former a reality).
Artist Alley has created a niche-market whereby folks expect hand-crafts and/or distinctly non-production pieces are to be made available along this stretch of "indie-spirit". Truth be told, with the direction the main thoroughfare has taken, Artist Alley has become a breath of fresh air for non-production work to be had, and a slice of "personalized" work becomes a more valued commodity - for folks who care for such notions anyways.
Very much like lowbrow artists and independent toy/merch producers - folks at Artist Alley have their own fanbase and are ready to receive new folks with a distinctly personal one-on-one touch, versus the marque names where the brand is 'king' and you're out for availability or discounts - which also means there is more "sell" at A/A than at the big booths. And frankly, "selling" takes a lot of time, and sucks energy out of a whole lot of folks. Trust me I know from selling even other folks products when I helmed my own booth LOL
Tomorrow we'll have a more in-depth look at folks who helmed their own booths, for this year and the last, to find out the relevance and significance of Artist Alley at the Con.
[Additional images via ROCKETRAYGUN]
