Tuesday, May 25, 2010

TOO MANY BROMLEYS


At the start of this year painter David Bromley was dropped by both his Sydney and Melbourne galleries. While some might find this surprising, considering the strength of Bromley’s brand, others could have seen it coming a mile away. It’s the same old story and the lesson is clear: Don’t treat your art like a commodity.

For the last 10 or so years Bromley’s output has fit into two categories of painting. The first category are paintings of children who seem to inhabit an idealic, 1950s dream world. These paintings bare a striking resemblance to several illustrations of the British boys magazine Boys Own Paper that were often contributed anonymously, blurring the question of copyright. The second category are nudes painted in black outline over decorative colour combinations, applied boldly for dramatic effect. So often have I seen these paintings in the front windows of almost every gallery around town that I decided to do a quick survey. After a few enquirers I managed to turn up 36 Bromley for sale around Adelaide plus another 4 on Ebay. When you multiply this figure by the quantity of paintings you’d expect to find in all the capital cities around the country it begins to look like a severe glut in the market for Bromleys. From the perspective of the galleries that represent Bromley such glut or ‘bubble’ presents a big problem.

“We could no longer guarantee exclusivity,” said Tim Olsen of Tim Olsen Galleries, Sydney. He continued “there was just no point in us continuing to represent David when anyone could buy his work around the corner at discounted prices”. While David himself was apparently unable to account for how this market situation came about it’s pretty easy to fill in the blanks if you take a closer look at his studio practice.

We say ‘studio’ because David Bromley is an artist but the term ‘factory’ is a more truthful description of the production line of workers who do the majority of Bromley’s actual painting. If you’re lucky the artist himself might have flicked the switch on the projector and traced out the actual design of any given nude but why should he even bother? With such a mechanical process why not just pay someone else to do the actual work? Warhol did it so why can’t Bromley?

There are several serious problems with this attitude towards painting. Perhaps the most obvious is that a mechanical process is very easy to duplicate which leads to fakes and no means of proving authenticity. But even if fakes don’t flood the market the artist’s own production line probably will unless the artist deliberately limits production, defeating the purpose of having a production line in the first place.

But the real problem with mass produced art is that it dilutes the meaning and substance of the work. As Tim Olsen puts it “There is always art when there’s never enough but there is no art when there’s too much”. Sure, pop-artists did it back in the 60s but that was a contemporary comment on the rise of mass production throughout the western world. To make pop art in 2010 is just indulging in nostalgia that’s going nowhere. In this sense, mass-produced art has nothing to do with self-expression and, as history shows us, soulless art just doesn’t last. So, knowing all this, why would any artist choose to treat their art like a commodity? There is only one answer: money.

“It’s true he’s commercially orientated” adds Olsen “and there was a time when that was good for the gallery but there’s got to be a cut off point.” One wonders why Bromley didn’t enforce that cut off point himself. Some artists, if they’re lucky, are faced with a moment of decision when they realise they’ve found something that the audience really loves. The question arises: ‘Do I give them what they want or do I continue forever searching for what satisfy’s me?’

For the artist, the temptations of wealth and stability are just as great as its’ dangers are hidden. As soon as the artist begins to follow the desires of their audience the roles are reversed and the art suffers. The problem is that truly great art can only come out of searching. The artist must always keep moving, changing and growing or else the art becomes stale and dies.

But at first it must have felt more like a flourishing than the beginning of the end. As the children and nude series were growing in popularity it must have become harder and harder for Bromley to move on from the themes that had made him a success. Surrounded by collectors eager to buy and galleries eager to sell, why wouldn’t he think he was onto a good thing? He would have been crazy to not focus in on why those themes really worked and pushed them for all they were worth.

The problem is that once an audience starts to consider Bromley’s commercial motivations they begin to see the children series as a patronising attempt to illicit nostalgia from comfortable baby boomers and the nudes seem tailor made for cashed-up bankers. In short, tits and tots comes across like a formula, a marketing strategy designed to provoke its target audience into opening their wallets. It’s almost tempting to tip your hat to him as if he’s duped them. But the truth is that he’s working for them. He’s painting their paintings, not his own.

When you combine this with a market flooded with discounted paintings it probably wasn’t hard for the galleries to admit that they’ve had a good run but it’s time to pull the plug. But where Tim Olsen can bailout of ‘Bromley Inc’ with phrases like ‘I’ve not only lost an artist, I’ve also lost a friend,’ the escape for the artist himself is not so easy.

In light of such brutality one can’t help admiring the courage of artists who choose to engage with the market rather than shelter behind the esoteric and elitist rhetoric of institutional art. But that admiration can evaporate if it appears that the market has consumed the artist and the direction of their art.

However for artists like David Bromley there is always a second chance, an opportunity to reinvent oneself; to stop pandering to the audience and return to that internal spark. Such a move takes courage and it takes a special kind of audience to recognise and respect that courage. Whether Bromley’s attracted such an audience is questionable. But the real question is whether Bromley’s still got the spark.

Some still think so. “I am concerned but to a lesser extent because I’ve lived with it for a longer time” Says Sam Hill Smith of Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide. He continues, “The truth is that David is still searching. He just needs to decide what he really wants.” Hearing this, it’s tempting to assume that it all started from good intentions that got lost somewhere along the way. At the end of the day it’s in the hands of David Bromley and he might yet have a trick or two up his sleeve.

17 comments:

  1. Great post; well written.

    I just stumbled upon your art and blog-- it made me want to break out the sketchbook and start going at it. Good stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You should see how many Bromleys are around Sydney !!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can safely say that I have not been to an auction at the likes of Bargain Hunt or Lawsons or Theodore Bruce in the last three years that has NOT had a David Bromley for sale. Usually more. Generally indistinguishable. Going price now seems to be ~$1,500

    ReplyDelete
  5. ne of the leading art gallery known for its innovative creation and varities of styles come the Reenart Gallery that offers the original art online Australia. This art gallery works basically in and around Australia and gives a chance to the emerging artists to explore their talent and discover their minds by painting such innovative art piece. Artworks that describes the beauty of nature in the landscape paintings that looks so original that one might fall in love with nature after seeing it's inner beauty and the original beauty with the skillful mixing of colors. Different types of original paintings whether oil paintings, acrylic painting, watercolour painting or charcoal painting you will find all these on a single access because all types of original paintings are available at Reenart Gallery at affordable prices.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Turn you home to a beautiful and lively place by decorating the interior with the beautiful original paintings and give your place a unique touch. Contemporary Art is the type of art that preceded the modern art type and is really very pretty. A painting of original contemporary artwork on the walls of your house can enhance the beauty even more. With all these qualities embodied in a single artwork you might think of buying a one for your home too. To buy Contemporary art one of the remarkable place that comes your way is Reenart Gallery. It's very easy to reach to it because it is available online where everyone can get easy access and just by sitting at your place you can choose the best artwork for your home. The things that you need to do is browse to Reenart Gallery Online filter your search and choose the paintings of your choice. You also get a number of options while you buy Contemporary art from Reenart Gallery as you get to choose from various mediums of the art collection that includes the contemporary art work prepared using oil colours, acrylic paint, watercolour and many more. The type of artwork prepared using bright and vibrant shades of colors which will make you think over and over again whenever you see the paintings of contemporary art and gives rise to different thoughts each time you see these paintings.

    ReplyDelete
  7. With the changing times, the mindset of people has also changed and so changed their way of decorating their homes. Now, Original art and paintings are in so much demand as compared to the earlier times. As in the past only the elite and rich people used to have the original art works in their big houses because one have to spend from their deep pockets for those paintings but now with the growing time everything has changed and so the availability of original paintings. To get varieties of paintings online and in easy way is what everybody wishes in today’s busy world. Solving your major problem come the best known Original Art Gallery known as the Reenart Gallery, basically based in and around Australia from where you can easily buy original art online. In very simple steps you can get access to the renowned art gallery that provides a number of original paintings painted by the talented artists discovering their thoughts and giving an inspirational thought through the art piece created by them. Reenart Gallery offers you with a huge collection of original paintings that comprises of different styles of paintings like acrylic painting, oil paintings, charcoal painting, and watercolour painting at affordable prices. So now you can easilybuy original art online by browsing to the to the leading online gallery that provide you with numerous artworks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I really appreciate this wonderful post that you have provided for us. I assure this would be beneficial for most of the people. Painters Melbourne | Interior Painting Melbourne


    ReplyDelete
  9. Spot on Blog. And yep..........one man's art is another man's fart!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. turn photo into painting online Australia

    Get started your photo painting and art design with us in Australia. We provide the best photography service. We are ready to paint your beautiful image.

    to get more - https://whitakerpaint.com/get-started

    ReplyDelete
  11. Bromley's saturation (in more ways than one)

    ReplyDelete
  12. He produces his bronze series in China wtf . How can this possibly be authentic. Also does the artwork saturated and sell them on eBay Amazing he Gets a away without deceiving behaviour. Someone should contact current affairs

    ReplyDelete
  13. David also sells his artwork at a place called market gallery in Melbourne look up
    Is Instagram market gallery . The insane thing is there is a photo of David signing a Chinese bronze underneath not sure if David was aware he was being photographed. We purchased from his colleague Jason . We rang David Bromley gallery and asked if made locally the told us correctly made locally . We paid $15 k for a Chinese statue asked
    For refund I was told absolutely not .

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete