South End Open Markets, Taipei, Pooptoad
Sunday May 20th me and Gary got up at the ass crack of dawn and piled as much artwork into his Explorer as we could, along with a collapsible table and a ramshackle tent that we borrowed from a friend of ours who used to manage the Chinese punk band Brain Failure, which was spray painted on the top of it.
We got to the south end around 8 a.m. and got in the long line of cars waiting to unload and set up their wares.
We were supposed to have both days to sell stuff but Saturday was rained out. As the day went on it seemed as though both days should have been called off. The rain never really stopped, only ebbed and flowed in it’s intensity.
Luckily we had mostly oil paintings and some spray wasn’t hurting them.
It was a slow morning, but people gradually came through. It was a cool vibe. We chatted with our fellow merchant neighbors. Checked out all the other tents that were more often than not selling awesome stuff. People strolling by kind of looking stern while they scanned the tents for something interesting would almost always glance down at my grim reaper painting and crack a smile, tap whoever they were with on the arm and then walk into our tent to check the rest of the stuff out.
We also saw some unexpected friends and acquaintences throughout the day and that was cool.
After four long hours Noon finally came and went and the clouds never parted once. By now I had sold a one print and went to grab a sandwich for lunch with the cash.
When I came back there was a girl who was at the market with her mom and they were interested in my painting of Kaohsuing. The one I kept calling “Taipei” if you remember that far back. She wanted the original. Couldn’t settle for a print. I told her the price and they agreed. I loved how excited they were about bringing the painting home. It was pure luck that Lauren and her mom came around despite the rain. Thanks to both of you. The large amount of work I put into that painting definitely paid off when you walked away excitedly with it.
Gary and I have three more days that we have to schedule at the Open Market. I’ll definitely let everyone know when we’ll be back. Next time it hopefully will be sunny and gorgeous out.
Now on a completely unrelated note I give you… Pooptoad.
Is it poop? Is it a toad? It’s pooptoad.
pooptoad is gross and fascinating. the grim reaper rules. i feel like we’re going to destroy you at wiffleball. glad we get to hang out though. the end.
Oh you will? Ohhhhh.