What does acceptance mean these days?
Twenty-four artists, 24 doors, three charities and one film try to give the answer, all in one night.
The Door Night event, taking place on Thursday 1 June is an innovative exhibition, film launch and auction featuring the works of some of Melbourne’s finest street artists, instagrammers and painters to raise awareness and funds.
The exhibition will showcase 24 doors that conceptualise acceptance; the film’s key theme.
The Doorman is a film featuring a distinctly Melbourne story set in the shadows of the city’s nightlife exposing the role of acceptance as viewed through the eyes of a club doorman, and it creates links to those seeking asylum in a country that has closed its doors.
The filmmakers, led by co-directors Mark Diaco and Karen McPherson, and producer Nadia Rao, are passionate about telling universal stories from a uniquely Melbourne point of view.
The film touches on the current international treatment of refugees and immigrants and raises questions about our tribal behaviours and how they play out in society, while treating political matters of the US and the UK as a cautionary tale for Australia.
“If the US is about walls, Australia is about doors … in an age of populism we risk losing our identity.”
Door Night event sponsor Corinthian Doors has come on board with the project.
“We are proud to be supporting such a worthwhile cause and helping those in our local communities who need it the most,” says Athina Solomou, the company’s director of marketing.
“We look forward to seeing our doors as works of art and how each artist answers the question about what a door means to them.”
On that basis, the artists will attempt to express their own journeys through allegorical doors.
The event organisers gave each artist a door and asked a simple question: “What does a door mean to you?”
The doors will be exhibited and available for purchase by auction. Funds received from the auction will go towards the production of the first 10 minutes of The Doorman.
The buyer of each door will also decide which of the three charities involved (Lighthouse Foundation, Red Cross, Asylum Seekers Resource Centre) will be supported. If the reserve price of the artwork is reached, $150 will be given to the chosen charity.
Street artists featured in the exhibition include Artistic Noiz, Bailer ID, Brent Watkins, Bryan Itch, Chia Jen, Clitories, Mark Diaco, Eva Lubulwa, Heesco, Junky Projects, Kach Domino, Keo Match, Lauren Nicholas, Marin, Matt Fallon, Michael Porter, Moo Bone, Oniism, Pete Majarich, Presto, Sssaladdd, Stiff Ives, Sunday and Resio.
Resio is an alias for 20-year-old passionate street artist Anthony Samartzis (you can see his work on Instagram @resio_ ). His art is a fusion of street art and design imagery, and his graffiti styles can include photorealism, letters and characters as well and abstract forms.
Resio considers himself fortunate to create art as a career on an international level and make a living from it.
His work has been extended to both private and commercial commissions. These include the sidewall of Mr Peebles cafe in Ivanhoe and Tonto Cafe in Canterbury.
“I would like to follow in my peers’ footsteps and paint full large-scale murals,” he says.
“I’m excited to be in Melbourne, alongside respected artists from all over the world.”
Twenty three of the doors will carry reserve prices designed to provide an affordable purchase for art lovers of Melbourne’s street culture.
The remaining door, designed by Diaco himself, will carry a $50,000 reserve and the buyer will be credited in the film as an executive producer.
For more information go to doormanfilm.com/door-night.php
When: Thursday 1 June 6.00 pm to 9.00 pm
Where: Lindberg Galleries, 77 Cambridge St, Collingwood, VIC