My First Board, I found in the Rafters

A Surfboard Exhibition by David Bromley

My first board, I found in the rafters.
I took it out for a surf and everyone said, it’s a kneeboard.
I said what’s a kneeboard?
They said you kneel not stand on it.
No money to buy another board, so I thought, I’ll just kneel.

 

 

This is what it looks like for any who doesn’t know what a knee board being surfed looks like Peter Crawford… one of my best mates, Justin Crawford’s dad. (Photo: Art Brewer)

Peter’s innovation in the surf scene is part of the surfing hall of fame. He was a remarkable character with many strings to his bow, which he has passed onto his remarkable son.

 

And this is George Greenough, possibly one of the most well known kneeboarders in the world and is touted by some as being behind the shortboard revolution and the big carved moonshined fin called the Greenough Fin. (Photo: John Witzig)

I had the great fortune of visiting George a few times and painting him for the Archibald Portrait Prize.

 

 

In making these boards, it has made me realise that one of the stories I often relate, is about how pottery saved my life.

After many years of destructive behaviour, leading to being well out of reality and any system that built my life in a more positive way, spending time in the surf was actually one of the greatest stepping stones to rebuilding my health. It was a catalyst for shifting the very core of my being without which I have no doubt that I would not have had the strength of character, the mending of my health and soul, so that I could move into a world of art and craft with such purpose.

 

And that is what I did. Surfing in the morning, and making pottery in the afternoon… this was the 80’s in Noosa where I rebuilt myself.

 

The stories that continue through to now can be seen in the film on myself and my wife Yuge by director Sean McDonald –  Bromley: Light After Dark, 

 

 

So let’s jump to now, where whilst I have made boards before, this is the first time I have put together a serious body of work, enough to form an exhibition out of, and since having moved ‘inland’ and into one of many new passions which is gardening. Not having the coast nearby, this is the closest I’ve got to taking up surfing again and it has been surprisingly, nostalgically such a joyful experience where so many of my surf escapades have risen up inside of me.

 

Where this will lead, I don’t know but I am surely a step closer to bringing surfing back into my life.

 

Like I do with my painting, sculpture and pottery, I am somewhat addicted to being prolific, yet not skipping certain important (to me) parts of the process that turn the materials I use into something that is different to the sum of the parts.

 

 

My combination of bower bird and recycler has meant that I can take the enormous amount of boards I have accumulated and try and honour them by approaching them in a way where like my painting and sculpture, I do my best to be instinctive and not follow other pathways with materials and imagery that people would normally relate to with the surf culture.

As I have also made parts of my living by finding and procuring classic pieces of furniture, architectural components and even houses I have renovated, I have gone about the making of this body of work with a great deal of love for the core piece that I start with. I constantly try and imagine where it’s been and how the marks on it have could have resulted from anything from having the life surfed out of it  to perhaps sitting in sheds, under houses or in back gardens as previous owners have gone onto new boards or new ways of life.

 

 

It is such a joy to re-imagine them and I don’t mind if they sit in your beach shack, on the wall of your home, or you surf it – as long as it brings you some of the joy that I have had as it passed through my hands.

 

 

This summer I have spent uncountable hours on these boards. One of the areas I work on is in the pool at home, where I emery paper, steel wool and clean up, getting them to a stage where I work out how they will next be decorated, sign written, making metal stickers for them, oil painting, tinting resins and more.

Whilst the lack of rain has caused me a lot of anxiety due to my love for my garden, being in the pool or back garden, working on the boards has made for a summer full of memories and once again, combined the two things that helped save my life.

This exhibition is important to me in so many ways as I really look forward to sharing it with you.

David Bromley

 

“My first board, I found in the rafters” starts Friday 28th March to Friday 25 April

Bromley & Co
247 Toorak Road
SOUTH YARRA VIC 3141

www.bromleyandco.com
@bromleyandco