Boys' Own Journeys
The Age
Wednesday May 13, 1998
He feels sick in boats, prefers not to fly and suffers from vertigo. Yet David Bromley's paintings are often about tenacious boys heading off for adventure. They row into uncharted waters, heading towards something that is always beyond the frame.
Adelaide-based Bromley has always been drawn to the coast and has spent years of his life surfing. "I'm never comfortable out there. Even though I enjoy it, I do it despite that feeling. One of the reasons I paint the sea is because it has that profound impact on me."
He layers the paint thickly, creating a rough, choppy surface on the canvas. His figures are outlined in black so they have a woodcut or cartoon-like quality.
The boys in his first Melbourne show appear captured in a moment, like a freeze frame.
"Films are my biggest influence at the moment - I love the moodiness of David Lynch, films that don't give all the answers."
He also draws heavily on Pop Art, using vibrant colors and appropriating comic book imagery, as that of American artist Roy Lichtenstein.
Except Bromley's material is drawn from old old Boys' Own annuals. "I love those annuals. I didn't read them as a child but as a painter I was looking for imagery that represented optimism without being too lighthearted. The figuresin Boys' Own annuals have that tenacity, an optimism that is quite touching."
He often paints children on the cusp of adolesence - boxing, skipping, clamboring perilously in and out of fragile rowboats. "It's about that pivotal time when you know things will never be the same again, the loss of innocence - the sense of doing something dangerous but knowing you will try it again. It's like the beginning of your life, the force of the journey."
Often a lighthouse looms on the canvas. "A lighthouse doesn't tell you which way to go, it's just a signal to keep you off the rocks."
Bromley hastens to add that his own childhood in Britain was warm and well-adjusted. "My past work had a sense of foreboding but I started wondering what I was trying to achieve. I prefer ambiguity tinged with optimism - I would like people to think the figures in my paintings will get through their situation.
The self-taught painter began life as a potter, making large bowls and vases until he found decorating the surface more interesting than creating the shape. He has also painted portraits, entering last year's Archibald Prize with an image of Shine director Scott Hicks.
Bromley is an avid collector, whose magical apartment, above the cafe run by his actress partner Tori, seems to echo the feel of his paintings.
Bromley covets objects from the depression and industrial eras. Wooden industrial cogs sit on his mantlepiece like sculptures; there's battered bush furniture in the living room and nostalgic childrens' toys, among the old fishing reels and African sculptures. Kitchenware from the '30s and '40s is on display like an illustration from a dusty copy of Good Housekeeping.
"I like the storytelling aspect of these objects. Many were hewn by hand and yet they still do so much." It's hard-working honesty that attracts him, as in his optimistic boys in their boats. Off they go, romantic children in their humble wooden dinghys, striking out for the future.
* David Bromley's exhibition is at Kozminsky Galleries, first floor, 421 Bourke Street, city, until 23 May.
© 1998 The Age