19/03/2013

Elephant Nature Park Exhibition "The Nature of Things"

A collaborative event aimed to raise funds for a charitable cause.

100% of proceeds will be directed to the selected charity.

All donations, organisation, preparation and advertisement of this event is provided through unpaid volunteer contributions.

The venue location and alcohol service is generously provided by Vic Bar, Abbotsford.

This exhibition aims to raise the funds desperately needed by Elephant Nature Park, an elephant sanctuary and rescue centre for tortured and abused domestic elephants located in Chiang Mai CX in North Thailand.

This viable organisation is totally reliant on the generosity of people and of the work provided by volunteers to ensure park maintenance, health care and feeding and the possibility of future elephant rescues from extreme, abusive conditions.

The park is predominantly a safe haven for abused elephants but also a tourist location for people seeking an “elephant experience” without supporting the abusive industries of trekking, elephant begging, circuses and elephant shows.

Elephant Nature Park strives to contribute to the world in a number of positive ways…continue elephant rescues, contribute to rainforest restoration, support local villages through employment of locals and the purchase of produce for daily elephant feeding, educate and raise the awareness of Thailand’s tourists and, most importantly, to find a way of preserving the Asian culture whilst maintaining the dignity, safety & happiness of domesticated elephants in Asia.

90% of working Asian elephants are subject to horrific abuse and torture which are traditional practices in most Asian cultures. Elephant Nature Park looks toward a more loving approach to training and daily disciplines. Their rescues, park upkeep and elephant care is an ongoing and expanding expense which means they desperately need all the help they can get.

Featuring artists:

Emily Vanderlism, Jamie Lee O'Shea, Bad Teeth, Beck Rocchi, Lily Staley, James McCullough, Matthew Tambellini, Christian Barry, Steven Wright, David Leyshon, Alannah Dore, Jennifer Von Klitzing, Alberto Garcia and Bamdy. 

Launch: Thursday 3rd April 2013 at 5pm

Drink specials - DJ Sammy the Bullet

Pieces will be displayed 4 weeks from launch date

Charity:

Elephant Nature Park

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Information available at elephantnaturepark.orgElephant Nature Park Exhibition

29/01/2013

In March 2013 The Vic will be hosting Gent 48 exhibition “Some art what I did”. 

Gent 48 is an underground English graffiti writer and budding illustrator travelling through Melbourne.

Since his arrival in September he has left his mark on the city by painting regularly and becoming the newest member of the legendary Melbourne crew SDM.

Gent 48 is constantly striving to evolve his style and techniques in the rare skill set of both characters and letters and although his characters are fictitious he finds inspiration in the people and world around him.

His latest work draws influences from the sites of Melbourne, in particular St Kilda where he currently resides.

48 / Forty Eight is an anagram of Toy Fighter, a crew started by Gent about ten years ago in Birmingham, the birth place of heavy metal and also of Gent.

We’ll be launching at The Vic on Wednesday 6th March from 5pm with drink specials and a DJ set from Sammy the Bullet.

281 Victoria St, Abbotsford 3067

03 9421 3922

Email: gentfortyeight@gmail.com and benoit@thevicbar.com.au

http://gentfortyeight.blogspot.com.au/_

https://www.flickr.com/photos/agent_48_tgf/

07/11/2012

DJ Profile of the month

M.A.F.I.A. AKA YO! MAFIA

Where's the strangest place you've woken up?

I actually thought I’d woken up in the middle of a robbery back in 1998 at my old crib and saw the dude stealing my turntables and exit through my window above my bed. Woke up an hour later and everything was there….too much partying goin’ on in my brain methinks!

Describe yourself using the title of a song.

Open Condom Style.

What was the weirdest thing you believed as a child?

That I could and would be a stripper. Not so weird actually.

The most awkward moment you've had as a DJ?

Having a beer thrown at me. Twice. Because I’m pretty sure the two blokes that did it thought I too was a bloke.

What would be the worst dance track in the world to be tortured with on repeat?

Call Me Maybe (The Dance Remix)

What's the most played record in your bag?

People Everyday – Arrested Development

What question would you like to ask an omniscient, all-knowing being before you die?

Is there an all you can eat pancake buffet up there?

If you hadn't made it as a DJ, what job would you choose to work in instead?

Stripper.

Whenand where is your next gig?

Loads coming up as usual..peep my website for all dates yomafia.com.au

03/10/2012

Dear Friends,

01/08/2012

1st August 2012            The Vic interviews artist SimpleSime

Dear friends, we had a quick chat Sime Moody AKA SimpleSime, one of the most prolific and active artist in graffiti, tattoo and graphic design. Today we talked about his next project Ink Dots Black Spots being featured in our venue.

We worked with you on the Park St Party last year running the production of the aerosol art wall. Now you’re back with another adventure this time forged from your tattooing background. Can you tell us how long you’ve been tattooing and how you came to work in one of Melbourne's most respected tattoo shops?

Well wasn’t that a great day in the sun and rain - painting and partying all at once. That wasn’t the first time I’d painted that wall but it was the next step up from doing it during a lonely xmas eve with some mates in 2007. The Vic has always been like home to me so it seemed logical to work with you guys again and kept it lo-brow with tattoo art and graff; all seems to work well there.

As for my tattooing I started in 1998, six years after I began painting. I joined the Tattoo Magic stable about 4 years later. I was in awe of the calibre of Geordie Cole, Claudia, Paul Usic and Kiwi Pete so I was attracted to the opportunity of working alongside them at TM. Luckily I knew other artists who had moved there so I already had an ‘in’. The rest is history. That history has seen the artist roster change so many times over the years and alongside Geordie I’m due for long service soon.....HA! My lengthy stint there was helped by the fact it was just a hobby for many years, only doing the odd day here and there. In 2009 I stepped up my days at TM and have been full time since.

You have a history in design, illustration, painting, photography and advertising and now you’re adding curator to the list. Tell us how you manage to fit all this into your life and what inspired you to create Ink Dots Black Spots?

I’m a thumb-in-all-the-pies sort of person, a scanner, love to experience as much as I can. I grew up in the suburbs but moved to the city and the lure of everything in the city, and of university, was overwhelming; so many possibilities, so many options, so off I went in all directions at once! Melbourne is great, you can pursue all your dreams head on - if you really want it and you try hard you’ll get it. When it comes to creating I don’t think it stops with doing the work, it’s a mental state, you seem to look at everything like an opportunity to think, experiment and be creative. This exhibition was about creating an event that matched the blueprint in my mind, along the way it evolved with input from contributors. I’m yet to see the final result but from what has materialised so far it’s going to be amazing!

I love being surrounded by creatives and am interested to see how they resolve a brief, study their folios and get inspired. So when Ink Dots Black Spots was conceived I was able to tick all boxes…set a brief, see the response and get inspired! The whole journey has been so rewarding. This is the start of an annual event for which I look forward to working with many more talented artists in the future.

Ink Dots Black Spots…tell us what is the main idea behind it and who is involved?

Firstly I thought about the one degree of separation from Tattoo Magic, to a few tattoo artists I’d worked with who had moved on from TM. Then I thought it’d be great to get them involved. As I invited them so too came more artists from their new found studios and the numbers grew rapidly. Inclusive of our crew at TM the studio list built quickly, word got around and artists came out of the woodwork with artwork ready for the tight deadline. It was great! I know if you give creatives too much time they love to procrastinate so everyone had to get busy and before I knew it we all had huge tasks ahead of us. 50 artists, 15 studios, 2 super screenprinters, 2 framers and my assistant Melinda who makes it possible for me to have 4 hands. A great friend of mine owns the venue we’ll be exhibiting in and I knew I could work closely with him to make sure it runs how I’ve envisaged it. So many people are being positive about it and wanting to get involved so it’s such an awesome energy to have happening around us! I can’t thank everyone enough but I’ll keep trying to.

How has it been working with 50 different artists from all over Australia and New Zealand?

Funnily enough that part has been easy. The bigger studios have great front counter staff like Daz at Chapel, Rachel at Sacred, Lauren at Korpus, Sam at Progression and Gem at 3rd Eye, and they’ve made it a breeze. Even getting work signed and returned after print…easy. That’s the coordination part of it and personally I’m so happy it’s allowed me an opportunity to put faces to names and meet more of the newer generation of tattoo talent working around Melbourne, and Sydney when we head up there!! I’m very keen to take this show to Auckland and Brisbane next year so they can enjoy it too. Well I’ve got my work cut out now.

It’s awesome you’re creating a donation component to the exhibition. Why did you choose the Cancer Council to donate to?

I felt the link between skin cancer and skin art made sense conceptually but from a moralistic point of view I think everyone has been touched in some way by the damage cancer can cause. When approaching Cancer Council Victoria we found it to be more of a donation to the general fight against cancer rather than skin cancer in particular but that only broadened the scope of who may have been affected. So if we can give, make people consider the fight, then we are putting better energy back into the world.

Whats next for SimpleSime?

So many things I couldn’t tell you right here and now but I‘m sure this is the first of many Ink Dots Black Spots.

Sime, thanks for your time and good luck with your upcoming exhibition!

http://www.inkdotsblackspots.com/