Australia’s interest in art sucks badly, but Benalla’s leading the way: Bromley

His pop-up shop, Bromley & Co, in the old NEA building (122 Bridge St East) is open, his exhibition at the visitor information centre is drawing plaudits, and the film Bromley: Light After Dark was screened twice, with a Q&A session at each.

Bromley said an event like the Benalla Street Art Festival was an amazing way to get people interested in the arts, to give up-and-coming artists an opportunity and, most importantly, to make the arts relevant to the Aussie audience.

“For a whole town to get behind street art and have a festival based around it, I just don’t understand why more people haven't cottoned on to the fact that this is the way forward,” Bromley said.

“Number one, people love it. Number two, you’d probably have to say the dudes that are doing this sort of thing are some of the best artists in the world at the moment, to me, anyway.

“If you were to pick a bunch of artists doing amazing things, I'd say it’d be the street (art) crews and the big mural crews.

“So you're surrounded by some of the best here in Benalla.

“It's a bit of an honour, really, for me. I’m 63, and I do have quite a lot of success behind me, but I’ve always felt like I’m at the beginning. Even 40 years in.

“It’s things like this, and certain people would say, ‘You don’t need to do this’.

“But we’re both (Bromley and his wife Yuge Yu) still happier on the cutting edge.”

Bromley said it was important to note that he and Yu were a partnership, and his involvement in the festival was not just about himself.

It's everyone involved with Bromley & Co, from Yu to the staff manning the shop and all of his crew.

Yu said that once festival curator Eddie Zammit asked them to be involved, saying no was never an option.

“Have you met Eddie? He’s such a sweetheart. How could we say no?

“I think the third time he mentioned it... We hadn’t said yes or no.

“But we’d had the conversation maybe late last year.

“Then, when it came a bit closer, he mentioned it again, and we said ‘yeah, sure’.”

Bromley said that the decision was prompted by Zammit and the Benalla community as much as anything else.

“We love working with people that we like,” Bromley said.

“As far as curators go, he’s a different sort of beast. He’s got this lovely innate passion. He’s got a lot of things.”

Yu said she could see some of Bromley in him.

“It’s the way he gets excited over things,” she said.

“Just like David, there’s no complacency. There’s no apathy for what it is that they’ve done for however many decades.

“I really love that in Eddie as I recognise it.”

Bromley said Zammit’s curation gave him confidence it would be a great festival.

“When you meet Eddie, you know he’s going to put something pretty good together. Which he has,” he said.

“And we’ve spent the majority of our lives in smaller towns.

“Since we’ve been together, we’ve spent about 90 per cent of our time in regional areas, and we think they are absolutely perfect for artists.

“You often get told when you live in places like Byron and Noosa, people say they’re such creative communities.

“I’ve got my eyes pretty wide open. Where is that?

“You come here to a town like Benalla, and here we go, there it is.

“For me, I say keep it going. The amount of tourism that comes from it, it’s just a win-win.”

Bromley said he didn’t think there were many places in Australia that really embraced art.

“A lot of people in the arts in Australia like to think that they’re fairly elite and fairly unique,” he said.

“In Australia, the problem is, if people want to enter the art scene, they’re met with barriers of art-speak, and you can’t blame them for thinking artists are pretty weird.

“You’re almost used to having your back up. We’ve found in Benalla, the people we’ve met have been shearers and small business owners. It’s been a really mixed bag of people who come up and are very positive about art and the street art festival.”

Bromley credits the phenomenon of silo art as having paved the way for communities embracing street art in regional areas.

“The silos (art) were a tremendous thing to start,” he said.

“They kick-started so much. They’re kind of like modern lighthouses. These beautiful, big, concrete things and the artists that tackle them are real heroes.

“Not only did they bring art to regional areas, but people who weren’t artists marvelled at them and might have thought, ‘if someone can do that, maybe I can’.

“In general, Australia’s interest in art sucks badly.

“The good thing about regional areas, I think, is they take too much pride in themselves to foster it on a small scale.

“Benalla’s done well to be known for street art and act on it.

“Get with the program, the rest of Australia.

“Australia doesn’t really support arts. And the industry itself doesn’t really support artists.

“It’s interested in the ones it can make money out of.”

Bromley said he had painted his mural early as it would allow him more time to meet the community and see the festival as a spectator.

He will also get more time in the Bromley & Co pop-up shop.

“I get told by some people in the art scene that I’m a glorified interior decorator," he said.

“But I love spaces. I love bricks and mortar retail.

“To me, art galleries can be mini cultural experiences, and we certainly don't set up a shop here expecting to flog a lot of paintings.

“We come here to put on a show and meet more people.

“One of the good things about bricks and mortar retail is it’s about interaction with the public.

“We don’t employ people from the art scene. We employ people who have these big, warm hearts. And I think a lot of people relate to them.

“I’ll probably be painting in there a lot during the festival, so it’s a good sort of gathering.

“We make clothes as well, and Eddie has a massive T-shirt collection. We’ll have some of those in there.

“I look at it as a bit of a bazaar.”

Bromley said they would be getting some pottery in, which he hoped to be able to ultimately donate to Benalla Art Gallery.

“We spoke to Eddie about getting a few of the artists to engrave them, then maybe we’ll go to the gallery and see if they want us to donate them.”

Bromley said he was expecting the whole festival to be great for attendees, artists and the Aussie art scene in general.

“Festivals like this give younger, up-and-coming, local artists a chance.

“It is so fantastic to see the actual art, earnestness and sincerity.

“Imagine this place in five to 10 years’ time. People can turn around and say, ‘This is our thing. This is Benalla’s thing’.

“And I say bring it on. It’s beautiful.”

The Festival continues until Thursday, March 28. Find out about the full schedule of events via www.benallastreetartfestival.com.au