Art Show Review: Mandala Art Show Sponsored by Tumbprint Gallery

This is going to be my first sort of "meh" review, and I feel bad because I really love Thumbprint Gallery, San Diego and I want to be supportive but this show at Basic was not as advertised.  To me it seemed that there were a very limited amount of pieces from each artist, and that everything had just been thrown up on the wall in semi-bad lighting at the last minute.  The pieces chosen for Exist1981 and Ali Bautista seemed underwhelming given the amount of press they received, and I know each has many better pieces.  Also I'm not sure there was enough emphasis put on the fact that this was really a clothing and hair show more than an art show.  When we got there, much more space was dedicated to the hair and clothes than the featured artists.  Yes, I realise that bodies and clothes racks take up more room generally than paintings, however I just think more care could have been taken. 
All was not bleak at Bar Basic, however, as the drinks were still very good, the artists were nice and there were plenty of fun prints for sale.  There were a few great pieces, pictured below, and the highlight for me was a little "portrait station" set up in the corner by the dj booth, where an artist name Tr4e was displaying some fun and interesting (though a bit samey) pieces and also had an easel where he/she (I didn't meet the artist) would paint a portrait of any person for tips.  I thought that added some much-needed authenticity to the event and I hope that artist made some good money. 
All in all it was a moderately enjoyable event, but my friend and I weren't really digging the hipster vibe and ended up jamming pretty quickly over to Tivoli's for buffalo fries and $3 beers. 
The show will not, however, deter me from going to Thumbprint's next show, because it's about  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  I can't wait.  Details on that will be on a following post.  In the meantime, hastily shot artpix!