If you've spent any time at all in St Kilda, you've no doubt come across Fred Negro in some form or another.
The longtime resident, 'unofficial mayor' and revered alternative artist is a stalwart part of the local creative tapestry and has been for almost four decades, and he'll be celebrated as such with a two-week-long (and then some) exhibition at Martin Street's Brightspace this December.
Titled St Kilda's Alright: The Fred Negro Experience, the exhibition will feature a collection of paintings, drawings and, in Negro's words, "music'n'shit", which more specfically entails things like memorabilia, photos, history and film.
Charting Negro's career from its beginnings in the 1970s punk scene to the present day, St Kilda's Alright will also include a series of band histories and artefacts, vintage pics by photographer Gary Hallenan of Negro in his salad days, book reviews, comic strips, and even some never-before-seen acrylic and mixed-media works by the man himself.
Attendees will also have the chance to get their mitts on a limited-edition carpet, designed by James Lomas and featuring Negro's artwork (pictured at top), which will be shown during the exhibit and then put up for grabs once the show's all over.
The video component will feature footage of Negro edited by Andrew 'Stumpy' Leavold, the director and producer of an in-progress documentary about the St Kilda legend, fittingly titled Pub. Taking things to a meta level, Leavold will be shooting new footage at the exhibition, which will be included in the final cut of the film.
The St Kilda's Alright exhibition will run from 1-17 December at Brightspace — it'll officially be opened by Paul Stewart of Painters & Dockers, so that's pretty cool — and there will be a series of special events held throughout.
These include two free cartoon workshops, led by Negro, for up to 20 members of community writing group and quarterly Roomers (5 and 12 December), a St Kilda Music Walking Tour (9 December), the launch of the Negro-illustrated Piranhas In Love graphic novel, written by Elizabeth Reale, featuring a performance from St Kilda band The Black Molls (10 December) and a floor talk and discussion with Negro and local muso Dan Warner on 17 December, with St Kilda pop-punkers The Peptides set to close the exhibition with a live show.
For more information, see the exhibition's Facebook event page.
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