Featured Artist: David Bromley
David Bromley emerged as a painter in the mid 1980’s. In the early stages of his career, he held solo exhibitions in Sydney and Adelaide. Bromley has represented works in state and regional galleries and has been a five times Archibald Prize finalist. Bromley infuses his colourful works of birds and butterflies with a painterly style and unexpected metallic backdrops in gold and silver leaf.
In the portrait series, Bromley explores the female form. His paintings are predominately provocative or demure, featuring life-size poses of models from fashion and film. The portraits are commanding and seductive, the females attractive and bare-breasted. However, diverse in his subject matter Bromley’s work is enduringly figurative, daringly coloured and executed with a graphic intention reminiscent of Warhol’s pop art from the 1960s.
This can be seen in the layering of high key colour, bold brushwork paired with the use of gold and silver leaf. Bromley states that he draws inspiration from Warhol’s style, “in particular his portraiture and figurative work”. In the children based work, the presence of the joy and innocence of childhood are evident. The compositions are reminiscent of bygone days, filled with imagery of toys, pets and adventure.
