All language subtitles for bromley.light.after.dark.2023.1080p.web.h264-cbfm

[birds chirp]

[David] How good would it be
to hang out with these guys.

[chuckles]

These are three of my friends.

"Hey, hey,
you're not a real bird."

"I'm a real bird."

"You're not a real bird!"

"I'm a real bird."

"You're a really
weird-looking bird."

"But at least I'm a real bird.
You're not even a real bird."

"You're not even
a real... bird."

"But you're the
weirdest-looking bird"

"I've ever seen."

"What do you think?"

"Oh, if I know one thing,
I'm very handsome."

That's actually how I think
when I paint! It is!

Underneath, you know, people
say this really serious shit.

That's actually what I think.
Yeah.

I've always thought,
especially when I was younger

at school and stuff

and you're being presented with
what the status quo is,

I've always thought
there's gotta be a better way.

You know, like,
I'll be talking to someone

and they'll say,
"What are you?"

I say, "Artist." And they go...

"Oh, you guys are weird."
And I go, "Fuck off."

[rock'n'roll instrumental plays]

I know nobody like David.

It's like you can't help
but be drawn to just...

Just to listen
and experience David.

All you have to do is ask him
one question and, well,

you're there for a few hours,

and you'll go on a ride with
him.

At the end of the three hours,

you won't know the answer to the
question

but, oh, my God, you would've
laughed, you may have cried.

You might be completely shocked
or overwhelmed

and you probably learnt
a shit load of stuff

along the way.

He's a complete free spirit

and he'll roll in whatever
direction he wants.

If it pleases you or it doesn't,
he doesn't really care.

How David Bromley is not a
member of a rock'n'roll band,

I think, is one of life's
great mysteries and tragedies

because he's far more
rock'n'roll

than most of the people
I know in rock'n'roll bands.

He's a creative genius.
He's a lunatic.

He's mad as a cut snake.

Exterminate!

He's a Peter Pan
of the art world,

and still sees the world
like a kid.

It's pretty hard to categorise
David in a few words

'cause he's everywhere.

Whether it's on a cup,

in a shopping centre or a
beautiful painting

or a sculpture,
it can only be a Bromley.

He's one of these people who's
made art accessible to everyone.

He wants to be like The Beatles.

He wants everyone to have
one of his greatest hits.

Everyone wants a Bromley.
Everyone wants a Bromley.

[music continues]

There's a word
that I'm so often called,

you know,
being sort of commercial.

Like, fuck yeah.

David Bromley should look out
because being that super popular

is not great necessarily
for a long-term reputation.

He produces likeable images.

Yeah, yeah, yeah,
some more David Bromley.

The weakness is
there's nothing more to it.

I think his work is just
purely decorative, it really is.

I think you go...
And then you walk on.

A lot of mud
has been thrown at him

but he's not gonna change,
is he?

I disagree fundamentally

with much of what is written
critically about him

'cause I think that David
has become iconic.

[laughter]

[Dialogue unintelligible]

[distant bird calls]

This is to make me...

This is to
make me I wouldn't say normal,

but this is to

I have different parts
of my body.

I just took the one
for my stomach.

That's the one for my brain,

and I actually forget what this
one's for.

-[Yuge] Cholesterol, is it?
-Maybe cholesterol, yeah.

Is the good stuff.

Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik
are expecting a baby.

How delightful.

When I met Yuge at first,
once we started to really gel

and make a commitment
to each other,

you know, sharing a life
and build a life together,

my complete anxiety

and sense of, um, you know,

the sheer pain that I feel
inside

or the phobias or the fears
or the anxieties or whatever,

I know that I would say Yuge's
name over and over in my mind

as a sort of form of ballast.

So, it's sort of, like,
I would mention her name

as a way of
keeping myself sane.

You know, it's OK,

the world completely and utterly
blows my mind

and I have trouble
not skidding off the tracks

because, you know,
I just find everything so big.

Alright, now, guys, I might
show you where I'm working.

Obviously, out there, there,
there, there.

There, there, there,
there, there.

Ooh!

These have worked out well.

[Yuge] Yeah, they're fun
as can be.

Fun as can be.

David doesn't like wasting
a single minute

of productive time.

If he's in the studio, he's in
the studio and he's painting.

That's probably the problem.

You know, people think that
he's...

He's just banging things out
but it's not. He just can't...

Standing still is not an option.

[rock'n'roll track plays]

David Bromley just seems
to have over-produced

and there doesn't seem
to be any editing to it.

It's not just the art,
I've got the coffee table,

I've got coasters,
I've got mugs.

I've got pillows.
I've got throws. I have boxes.

Commercial pop art.

That's where he sits
in the art scene,

as a highly marketable,
highly successful pop artist.

I mean, he's achieved a sort of
Warhol level of ubiquity

and that, I think, in many ways,

has been both his triumph
and his downfall.

Some critics said as a
derogatory thing, you know,

"Bromleys are only good for
holiday houses

and children's bedrooms."

Oh, two of my favourite places.
The funnest places in the world.

♪ And it's running
like a freight train ♪♪

People buy it
to decorate their homes

because it's very recognisable.

Their friends will come over,
instantly go,

"Oh, that's a David Bromley."

[horn toots]

The biggest characteristic of
an upper-middle class family

in Australia

is not a Range Rover,

it's not kids
at private schools,

it's not a beach house,
it is this.

I swear David Bromley
runs this town.

♪ Won't sleep tonight ♪

[David] When I first started
making art, you know,

decorative, bad word,
nostalgic, bad word,

happiness, bad word,
craft.

And I just took those
and built a career.

[song continues]

If you're OK with portraits of
women naked from the waist up,

if you're OK with little kids
'50s style

or animals or whatever,
the art's for you.

Some people find it easy
to dismiss his work

as something pretty simplistic.

It's figurative but there's
no great depth to it.

I furiously disagree with that.

It's extraordinarily
sophisticated like the man is.

He's multi-layered,

and beware the silly person who
takes him lightly

because there's
a formidable intellect

behind those friendly eyes.

It just looks like
it's been photographed,

traced or stencilled.

There's no poetry to his work.

We do have people who
seem to leave the house

with the intention of
coming into the gallery

to tell us that they fuckin'
hate David Bromley's work.

They're upset because, like,

how can he be good,
do what he does,

seemingly easily,
and be rewarded for that?

I don't know, ask him.

Oh, this is so exciting. Oh!

John! Steamroller!

Hey, baby,
we're gonna steamroll.

-Awesome, I'm coming.
-Cool.

I haven't been waiting days
for this,

I've been waiting
my whole life for this.

Fuckin' great.
I love smashed-up shit.

[laughter, David yells
in wild voice]

If I was you, I'd ask as well.

They're on a wooden frame,
of course, stapled on,

and I put two pack on them.

That's just smashed all the
frames, buckled all up.

And just the other day when I
knew this was coming, I thought,

"Fuck, I'll flatten you out,
you bastard."

[David chuckles]

This has done something,
I reckon,

but it's tearing all the edges
and stuff

which personally I
think is fucking cool.

Yuge, just when I think
I couldn't love you more.

Do a burn-out on it, Yuge.
How cute does she look in that!

Has that got something
underneath it?

Yeah.

Yeah, no, it's got something
underneath... oh!

Get with the program, David.
Come on, baby!

In the first couple of years
of our relationship,

there was another Yuge.

I'd reached a real milestone
in my own career as a lawyer,

and I was doing well
and I really enjoyed it,

but I wanted to take this
new direction,

and, even when I started
my clothing label, you know,

I was so desirous
to be fiercely independent.

Oh, keep going, baby.
No, keep going.

Fucking smash the shit
out of it.

Yeah, keep going.

In the very early days, I would
feel incredibly self-conscious

with my place in David's world,

and then it was like
this light-bulb moment

maybe a year or so
down the track when I realised

that I was in such a fortunate
position as a fashion designer

to have one of the most
iconic artists in Australia

just open his absolute world
to me.

OK, bubba.

And I thought, well,
let's cut the bullshit.

Any fierce determination to be
independent.

Why? You're married.

You know,
you've got kids together.

I'm so proud to be linked there.

That's better!

That sounds a little bit more
like action.

David and I started opening
more galleries together.

I felt more confident
in my voice

and expressing certain ideas.

And, yeah, we felt like a team.

Is that the accelerator?

That's slow throttle,
that's a bit more throttle.

You're accelerating...

Slow down, slow down! Pull it
back!

[Yuge laughs]

God, it is harder to drive,
isn't it?

Whoa! Stop!

Stop!

Oh, my God!

Yuge, why did you
let me in there?

All my premonitions
came to reality.

No, but I'm just dropping,
get it to be totally fucked up.

You would be an idiot to think
that David stands alone.

David only functions because of
the unit that they have.

Together, that crazy madness

that is their mental life and
love,

you feel the bubble of energy
that is the love

that runs between
David and Yuge.

[both laugh]

Her influence on him has been,

yeah, I think it's
been profound.

She's this incredible balance
for this man.

She deserves some awards.

I thought I did lots of skulls

'cause I quite like the idea

of a person's head turning into
a skull.

David's brain is so fast and not
necessarily compartmentalised.

Somebody like Yuge,

who's able to make sense of

large bits of very abstract
information,

I mean, she's just invaluable.

Just whack it on this.

Um, shall we set up by the fire?

Sounds perfect and I'll bring
the lighthouse over as well.

Beautiful.

[paint sloshing]

I think I went through
that stage

where I never wanted to paint

another fucking lighthouse
in my life.

But it's amazing how time
goes by and you go,

"Oh, how good is this,
painting a lighthouse."

They're just such
beautiful things.

When I was younger,
I saw them as wonderful beacons

to keep you off the rocks.

I think, you know,

I was so desperate to keep
myself off the rocks.

You know, I think I found them
to be wonderfully poignant.

My own adolescence
was quite horrific.

You know, as I was changing
and my voice was breaking,

so was my sanity
and it felt very much like

I was falling through something.

I had some, sort of, um,
schizophrenic happenings

and some major phobias

and stuff starting to develop,

and I was just fuckin' on edge
the whole time.

When I first started
having these problems,

I mean, I just thought
I was fucked.

I mean, I'd be running from,

like, telegraph pole to
telegraph pole

because I couldn't stand,
you know, in one place

because I thought I was gonna
get sucked into the vortex

of the atmosphere.

I just remember my hands
just sweating

'cause I'd look up at the sky

and the infiniteness of it
and stuff,

and it'd just totally
and utterly freak me out.

You know, and I'd have dreams
at night

of being stuck
between two wires,

between two buildings,

and then I'd put myself
into a position

where I'd be walking along the
beach

with a friend
and suddenly realise

that I'm four kilometres away
from the car,

and I'm too embarrassed
to tell my friend.

How do you tell them
in 15 seconds

that you've got this thing

that you don't even know
what it is

but I'd need to go
and jump in the water

because I felt like
I was falling off the earth.

♪ Yeah, I've been waiting
for this day to come ♪

♪ For a long, long time ♪♪

♪ Yeah, I'm gonna
break these chains ♪

♪ And feel the
sweet sunshine ♪♪

And that's why I started
drinking so much

because, you know,

if I had a certain amount
to drink,

it would dispel some of these
problems.

But, I mean, I got to the stage

where I was comfortable
for about a minute

and then I'd be unconscious.

I mean, if I acted like how
I felt inside, you know,

I'd be like, "Yeah, yeah, argh!"

It sheerly terrified me

of how fricking abnormal I felt.

Let alone what that did
to people around me

who considered it
an incredible flaw.

You feel like saying, well

please don't

please, you know,
please hang around...

Please hang around for the
things that I am, you know?

♪ This other mind ♪♪

I fell down a pothole
that I couldn't get out of

for about five years.

I worked out that
I had two things to do.

One was to be active
and to exercise.

And the other one was
to be purposeful, find a career,

totally and utterly commit
to it, be addicted to it.

♪ Yeah, I'm gonna
break these chains ♪♪

♪ And feel the sweet
sunshine ♪♪

I was at a market one day

and there was a woman standing
there with her pottery.

I said to this woman,
"How do you be a potter?"

"Can I do classes?"

And she said, "Well, we're full
and you gotta wait."

It was just like, "No. No.
No, no, no, I'm doin' it now."

I'm committed to something
and this is what it's gonna be

and, you know, I used to
work in there and stuff.

Fuck, man, I felt like...
I felt just incredible.

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

I went into a local art show
to show my pottery.

I put some paintings in as well
and, anyway,

I turned up there and they said,
"Oh, we wanted to talk to you."

"We'd like to give you
an exhibition."

I walked over to my pottery

and they said, "Oh, is that your
stuff there?"

And I thought, "Oh, no,
they've got the wrong dude."

And they said,
"What about these paintings?"

And I'm like,
"Oh, yeah, they're mine too."

And they're like,
"So, are you a painter?"

And I'm
like, "Yeah, I'm a painter."

And I just said to myself,
"I'm a fuckin' painter."

"I'm a painter, I'm a painter,
I'm a painter."

Got rid of the kiln

and I just painted, like,
15, 18 hours a day.

[rock'n'roll instrumental plays]

Some of the greatest joys
in my life

were the beginnings of my
art career when I had nothing.

[music continues]

People say, you know,

"Gee, the texture on
your painting's interesting."

Well, I started that off by,
when I finished an exhibition,

I couldn't afford new canvases

so I'd paint over all the
others, sometimes four times.

I didn't have the money.

If I couldn't afford paint,

I'd go down the beach and I'd
find old bits of plastic

and stuff like that,

and I didn't give a shit whether
galleries liked them or not.

'Cause they liked them
because they were selling

and, you know, from where I'd
come from, everything was good.

[quiet jazz music playing]

So, can you just explain where
you get your ideas from,

you know, as an artist?

My work has just about always
from the beginning

had figures in it.

I've always been
fairly concerned with

interacting people in my work

'cause, to me, it's the thing
that fascinates me most in life

is how we all get on,
how we all interact.

So, I try and portray a sort of,
like, a journey

and that's where
the lighthouse comes in

and so showing direction,

all the children
working together

to try and get
from A to B, and not just,

like, physically from one place
to the other

but I suppose
emotionally as well.

And so I suppose he's,
sort of...

You could say, well, you know,
he wants to get back to shore

or you could say he's also
finding it really hard

at that point in his life

and he's trying to reach out
for understanding.

But, between, you know,
the two of them

they've got this little raft
so maybe that's the vehicle

that gets them to, you know,

like, a bigger life or a better
life.

I think there was a time
about 15 years ago

when he was considered to be an
up and comer, you know, like...

He had a breakthrough, you know,

had a few successful
exhibitions.

The work had an instant
visual appeal.

One of his nudes went for
over $50,000 at an auction.

He said that wasn't
making him happy.

David would say,

"You look back at all of my

emails with my
past art dealers,"

"you will not find
a single creative conversation."

I knew him
when he was represented

by one of the great galleries
in Sydney

and also one of the
great galleries in Melbourne.

He was then, when he had
those representations,

a very respected
and respectable artist,

but he felt constrained
by just having to produce,

say, ten or 12 works a year.

His need to produce more and to
show more of what was inside him

was just too great.

He wanted to make pottery again

and he wanted to create bags or
things,

and it was poo-pooed
by so many of his gallerists.

"Like, no-one's going to take
you seriously"

"because that's just stupid."

He decided that that wasn't
the arena he wanted to be in

and he got badly ousted from it.

The curators never forgive you

for moving outside the area
where they are the gatekeepers.

If the artist
only sells exclusively

via this particular dealer
or gallery,

there is a certain group of
people that benefits from it

like the people...

The big collections and
obviously the dealers as well.

You have a commercial gallery

and they'll take 50%, sometimes
60% of the exhibition.

Then you'll have to pay
tax after that.

You'll have to pay
all your materials, your rent.

Even if you were
very successful,

you're not left with much.

Bromley in some ways is a genius

'cause he sort of looked at it
and go,

"Well, I can go
beyond that relationship

"and sell directly
to the market,"

"just push all of those
guys out of the way."

But, you know,
it comes with a downside.

Financially, people say
that it's not a good thing

to over-produce

because it devalues any of the
individual pieces you've made

because there's so many of them.

But I think where Bromley sits
in all of that

is probably what makes him
so powerful.

I mean, he doesn't seem to be

just making stuff in a
warehouse.

He's kind of in
all of these places.

[tram bell dings]

[David] Mixey, mixey, mixey!

We are creating
a Bromley Sushi Sushi store.

Yeah, that's it, yeah.
What are we doing here?

Where are we?

So, the little characters
we invented

about, I don't know,
three months ago, and, uh

we love them now.

Now they've become
very dear to us.

Now we see them as family,
almost real.

Come on, little man,
out you come.

"No, I want to stay in here!"

Hey, Dibby, do you want Benny to
bash out a cool quote up there?

Be pretty fun to sit
and read something really cool.

Yeah, I just need a word.

-Just go Japanese proverb.
-OK, OK.

It is the man who drinks
the first bottle of sake,

then the second bottle
drinks the first

and finally it is the sake
that drinks the man.

That's how I gave up smoking.
American Indian...

American Indians saying,

first, you will
smoke the cigarette,

then the
cigarette will smoke you.

If the fish
is kind to the water,

the water
will be kind to the fish.

I think, when you're
sitting there eating it,

that's probably, like,
all thrown out the window.

Give a man a fish
and he'll eat for a day.

-Teach a man to fish...
-This is your idea.

-Come on. Give it to me.
-Oh, my gosh, sorry.

-OK, I'm taking over this...
-Quote...

-Quote concept.
-OK, OK.

[laughs] I'm reading
Keith Richards quotes.

The idea of retiring is like
killing yourself. I love that.

Everyone talks about rock
these days.

The problem is
they forget about the roll.

The sushi roll. Right?

What about "Everything you can
imagine is real"?

I love that quote.
Is that Van Gogh?

-Picasso.
-Picasso, yeah.

Beautiful.

Everything you can imagine
is real.

Maybe butterflies on the right,
then head over there,

and then expand them
the other way.

People say,
"Oh, he's so commercial."

And I just think,
"But what does that mean?"

You know, like, how do you
come to that as a criticism

or a judgement?

Do you have to go out
and buy your paints? Yes.

Do you have to
buy your canvases? Yes.

You need a studio.

You either own it or you rent
it.

It's all a commercial process.

It's often seen as,
if you're too commercial,

if you print your work
on tea towels,

then it's devaluing it

but it's not really
devaluing the work.

It's devaluing pieces

that a bunch of rich collectors
have bought.

One day, I was in the kitchen
and I looked down at my Vegemite

and it had his name on it.

And then I was in the chemist

and I saw that he has an eau de
cologne collection.

[David] The process of
doing something like this

is fantastic.

I usually go back
to my core element

of just a very simple desire

to see my work
in unexpected situations.

Not for a minute do I think

there's a way that you should
find art.

You can find art
where you find art.

He's talking to
a bigger audience

than the art world
could ever communicate with,

and introduced so many
more people to the art world.

Like, I'm paintin'
for everybody.

I want everybody
to access a bit.

I'm makin' stuff for people
to just aesthetically enjoy it.

Shouldn't David as an artist
be available to everybody?

That's what he did.

And, in that, he's grown big.

David can be polarising,
and mainly because of

the commercial way
in which his practice

and businesses have evolved.

I don't think that David
really gives a fuck, actually.

David would still make art
if no-one was buying it.

[can whooshing]

I just love, before I start,

getting a background that is
interesting.

[laughing]

I remember when
I first started seeing David,

which was over nine years ago,

and I'd be in the studio
watching him prep his canvases.

[rock'n'roll instrumental plays]

He starts off
with a white canvas,

then he preps it black.

Then, he does, like,

three layers of
different-coloured whites

and then, on top of that,
he starts prepping his colours.

Let's try some silver.

Actually, I think it's fun
using colours that aren't great.

Sometimes, the less control
you have, the better.

-If you think, you stink.
-Mm-hm.

[song continues]

♪ In my house
you're on your own ♪

From time to time, I'll have
clients who get an artwork

and say,
"Oh, it's got a big blob on it."

And I'm like, "Are you insane?

The blobs are the best bit,
that's when he's having fun."

There's blobs, cracks in the
paint, weird marks and things,

lots of drips around the side,

you know, then he's had, like,
heaps of fun.

I don't think anyone
has seen joy

until you've seen
David puncture a spray can

and just spray it everywhere.

I think some of the best work
of Bromley's

is where there's elements
of abstraction

and wildness and mess.

I think that's
where it's exciting.

He's moved into, like,
using ground spray, spray paint,

and just smashing
huge fields of colours.

You know, butterflies,
you know, perfect.

Bit of
negative space, perfect.

Few drips through a butterfly,
perfect.

Doing layers isn't so profound

but to have the balls to paint
almost illustrative

on top of that is something,
you know,

not a lot of people have.

So, you've already got something
going on that's quite powerful.

Then, you do this other layer

because you can and then,
you know, you've got a Bromley.

You know, like,
the figurative part

is the dance with the abstract.

You know, what amount
of the underneath stays,

I still don't know.

Sometimes, you do so little
and it just seems to work.

In practice,
it's working in negatives

so the abstract

and the free, vibrant work
becomes the foreground.

[rock'n'roll track plays]

I mean, I didn't realise
exactly how popular his work was

until I visited some friends
in their house in London,

and there was a Bromley nude
in the lounge room.

I was like, "Whoa."

And they were saying,
"We've got a David Bromley.

Isn't he a really well-known
Australian artist?"

And I was like, "Yeah, I guess
he is but, you know..."

A bit like putting Pro Hart or
Ken Done or someone in there

and saying, "I believe he's your
leading contemporary artist."

If you talk about someone like
Ken Done in the '80s

who was everywhere,

he was known
for particular types of work

and people might have reactions
to that

and say, "It was everywhere
and that makes it bad somehow."

I don't particularly like
pop art.

I think it's, um

it's shallow, really.

Doesn't really leave you
thinking about anything.

It's just...it's there.

With the exception to
Andy Warhol who nailed it.

He did it really well,
didn't he?

There are many parallels
between Bromley and Warhol

because mass production
and commodification

are two key identifiers
of pop art.

Pop art is art for the people.

It's inescapable not to compare
what he's doing

with Andy Warhol.

He's got the same image over
and over the course of years

and so did Andy Warhol.

He returned all the time
to his favourite images.

And that was half the
fascination of that artist

and it's half the fascination
for me of David.

Yeah, there haven't been many
artists in Australia

who've managed
to sort of emulate

the kind of
art pop culture crossover

that, historically, people like
Andy Warhol was able to achieve.

And everyone who's come along
and has tried to do that,

in my view, has always ended up
looking a bit cheap.

You know, my idea
of being an artist

is to do what the fuck you want

when the fuck you want to do it,

and, you know,
that includes wanting to do it.

So you need the paint,
you need the materials.

Getting paid for it.

You want the whole
sort of thing.

Do I make commercial decisions?
Fuck yeah.

Some days, do I go in
and paint kids over the fence

and I paint the nudes and stuff.

I mean, doing my greatest hits,
it's still...

Like, it's maybe not always
my favourite thing to do

but it's still one of my
favourite things to do

and, look, I think probably one
of the most important things

is never, ever fuckin' stop.

And that's why I've got
Bon Scott and Malcolm Young.

I love the way Malcolm Young
spent 30-odd years of his life

standing like this.

[grunts]

In one frickin' spot.

A lot of people think that they
want to be an artist,

they'd like to be unknown,

underground,
staunchly individual,

against all types of recognition
but be wealthy and, you know,

how does that work?

What's wrong with working
to make a living?

Like, why are we so different
to everybody else out there?

Well, we're not.

There is a, sort of, shame
around this idea of ambition,

but I've always seen
financial freedom

as a way to
have creative freedom.

Taco in hand.

I got this amazing glass finish
that you pour on

and, after about two months,

it wouldn't dry so we put them
on the roof for two years.

It was so funny because John's
obviously been up on the roof

and brought them down.

And I've just walked in
and I've just thought,

"Oh, my God, these..."

No, I didn't... I'd forgot,
and that was the idea.

Wow, just, man,
I'm so happy with that,

but I just walked in
and I was just sort of like,

"Shit, am I dreaming?"

The perfect painting.
Oh, shit, they're mine!

There is a distinction between
the pieces that David creates

because he knows
that the clients

who are coming to the
gallery will want them,

and then there are the pieces
that he creates

because he's gonna have
heaps of fun doing it.

Oh, now this stuff here,
it was a trucking guy I know

and he used to have
a rodeo circus.

I love circuses.

This stuff here, I'll wrap
around masonite and paint on it.

Pretty good,
even if I do say so myself.

There's a good 70%
of his art practice

that people will never see,

that he works away in the studio
and he experiments on.

It never makes it out into
the market or the real world,

but that's the side that
drives him as an artist.

[paint sloshing]

I have different relationships
with the different figures.

I know the ones that are, like,
are truer to me.

When I do the really idyllic
ones, you know, I feel...

I feel definitely like
it's more of a fairy story

and I'm really happy to do those

because I think it's so nice

to just feel nice sometimes,
you know?

Cosy and the world's
a beautiful place,

a bit like a dream.

But, you know, when I paint
the boys smoking cigarettes

and stuff like that,

I have more of an affinity
for them.

Because that was more me
because I was a bit naughty

and indulged in these things,
I caused myself problems.

If I hadn't caused myself
those problems,

I don't think my life
would be so interesting.

But this guy here,
I don't know, I just...

I like the fact he's in a...

Where is he? He's in a den
of skulls and stuff,

and yet he's comfortable.

He's got his little bottle
which, in his mind,

is going to be able to find,
you know, what is laying ahead.

He's armed, in case any of them
come to life,

and I'm...

I don't know,
I don't think I was that kid.

I don't think I ever felt that,

you know, it was all gonna be
OK,

but I sort of love these guys

because, I don't know, I think
they remind me a lot of my dad,

you know, where he believed that

everything was sort of gonna be
OK.

[gentle music plays]

My dad held down a formal job,

never took a day off in his
life,

and worked in an office
to pay the bills

and to look after us
and to bring us up.

He didn't go on
any radical approach.

I think he was quite
conservative in that way.

Philosophically and in his mind
and in his own time...

You know, I said to him,

"I don't think
that work should be unpleasant

and I don't think the people
that work with you,

you know, necessarily
should be not of your kin."

Etc, etc, etc.

And Dad said, which was
scary for me, he said,

"Well, I don't know
how that is achievable."

"But you can give it a go."

Man, that has just helped me
so much.

And quite often in my life...
Like, that was it.

Not, "Well, and you can do this
and you can do that."

He didn't have any answers, but
he said, "Well, give it a go."

But there were certainly plenty
of times in my life where

someone would have a go at me
about my life choices.

And I think,
"Well, my dad loves me."

You know?

That colour...

From a young age,
I've always been a tip rat.

You know, my...

We used to have the
old Thebarton dump near home,

and my brother would go down
there with an old pram

that he found down there.

Mate, we'd pull out old
motorbikes and get them going.

I think probably one of the
funnest times down there

was we pulled this motorbike
out of the tip

and my brother, who could get
anything started, got it started

and we were fangin' around
this paddock,

and at the back of the paddock

were the old corrugated iron
fences.

And you suddenly saw
all these little heads

peeking up over the fences,

just like my kids
over the fence.

And you see 'em
just running over.

"Can I have a go?
Can I have a go?"

So you're like, "Yeah, sure."

And they go - rah!
Everyone's turning around.

But my brother used to fill
the old pram up with metal

and then he'd walk to Sims Metal

and he'd get, like, 12 bucks
and stuff like that.

I just had...

My brain did not work that way
at all,

but it certainly got into my
soul,

you know, running around
and collecting things and stuff.

[spraying paint]

Look, I always wish my brother
was on these adventures with me.

I quite often think,

"God, my brother would've loved
doing this"

or "God, I could really do with
his hand," 'cause he's bloody...

He was a frickin' clever bastard
and funny.

My own brother, who was fearless
about everything but his work,

I just begged him
to give up his job

so he could be home more

'cause he was always travelling
with his work.

And I think I told you, you
know, he was drugged and robbed

and he was dead within a week
pursuing the wage.

When he died,

I always was determined to be as
wild as he was

but also to stick with the fact
that, at work,

fuck it, you know,

you've gotta be your own person.

[rock'n'roll track plays]

[chuckles]

He has a lot of fun!

Oh, my God, the joy.

It's like, "Yuge, Yuge,
come here. Ta-da!"

"Hey, kids, kids, come here.
Ta-da!"

It isn't really work, is it?
It's play.

[kid squeals]

You get creative here.

They play music or...
to do something.

I can feel it,
there's an energy here

of wanting to create and make
something.

It's almost like
a teenage sleepover

that's gone on for 50 years.

Yuge, Yuge!

It's this crazy house
and dinner parties

and random
people showing up and...

Like, being a child
in that family, like, oh!

Again!

This is not somebody who goes to
work and comes back from work.

This is a couple of artists
that work is the veins.

It is the life.

So, how can you separate kids
from that?

So, the kids are covered in
paint and the kids are drawing.

They're just a part of it all

and then they throw dogs in the
mix, as well,

almost a bit too chaotic.

[dog barks]

Like, David having
seven children,

it's so natural for them.

He's got them
all hanging off him, you know,

and he's just, like, trying to,
like, focus and it's just like,

"Yeah, this is easy," you know,
like...

I find it really tricky to paint
with a baby in my hand

but I've done it.

Hanging round with Dad and Yuge
is pretty great.

At least half the time
I'm with him,

he does not have a shirt on.

Probably more. There's not really any
distinction between work life,

family life, real life.

A typical day for us is madness,

and it's something that I find
great comfort

and great ease in doing.

To combine together
to make some wallpaper.

Bei, did you turn that into
giant, big, long slime

and then you were cutting it up?

-Yeah.
-That is so cool.

Hey, Yuge, you know this, like,
really nice European table?

Do you like the fact
that it's got cut marks

all the way through it?

Um...

[Yuge] Yeah.

Ooh, I'll have a look at that.

I've got this collection
of matchbox covers

from eastern Europe somewhere

and they're really cool and
they're tiny,

and I've got thousands of them,
and I'm looking through them

for interesting ones to print
and make into big collages.

Anyway, Yuge's going,
"Look how little they are.

How does someone make something
that small?"

And I'm looking at them

and I'd looked at about 500 by
this stage.

I'm starting to spin out
a little bit.

And then Yuge's saying
how small they are and, like,

rather than putting them down
and stopping the anxiety,

I keep thinking of people

working on thousands
of these little things

every day of their life.

And I'm like, "Fuck, it's..."

You know, we were talking
before, Sean, about,

you know, people still not

taking people
with mental illness seriously.

Yeah, well, that's probably
one of the reasons why.

"What are you scared of?"
"Little tiny matchbox covers."

How the fuck are you supposed
to garner sympathy

when that's the case?

They'd be like, "Well, don't get
matchbox labels.

Don't get thousands of them and
look at them for hours on end.

There's your answer."

But...

As I always say to some people,
you know, if you've got...

If you suffer from anxiety

and whatever it is that you're,
you know...

Say it's open spaces,
which I've got,

and you go out
and you conquer that,

usually, anxiety will just...

So, you'll go, "I've done it,
I'm no longer afraid of it."

And then the next day
your anxiety just latches

onto something else
that you're doing.

You know, I mean, I didn't think

that little, tiny
matchbox things

were gonna kill me or anything

but even just talking
about it now

is making me highly
uncomfortable.

Watch this. Watch this.

Who's the cause of so much of
my anxiety? This one's my mum.

[grunts and warbles]

Sorry, Mum. What do they say,
don't speak ill of the dead?

Oh, my God.

My mum, you go in and,
like, she's dying

and then you walk in and you go,
"Hi, Mum."

And she goes, "You're fat."
Yeah. No. I...

My mum was awesome.
I loved her very, very much.

She could just be
sometimes a bit tough.

Um, so Mum, I think she had one
or two cigarettes in her life

which is not enough.

So, I gave her a pipe 'cause she
didn't have enough cigarettes.

He, on the other hand,
had way too many, so...

But my brother was
an amazing builder

and metaphorically
a great builder 'cause he...

Get off my mum, you bug.

Yeah, I loved my brother
so much.

He was a really, really, really
special dude

and, seriously,
could build everything.

My dad was an avid reader
and, when Dad was

close to the end,
I can't think what it was,

six months or something like
that,

and none of us knew

but it was obvious that he was
not getting a lot better,

and I said, "What have you
been reading lately, Dad?"

And he said,
"Don't have long left.

"Comedy. Comedy only.

"Funny stuff only,
nothing serious.

"I don't have long enough.

"So, I'll just get straight back
to the funny shit

"and that's all I do.

That's the only thing I'll read
for the rest of my life."

How cool's that.

What a wise decision.

My dad was fucking awesome.

So was my brother.

Mum, she is...
She was awesome, too.

[laughs]

[grunts and warbles]

It's brought numerous problems,
still, my absolute insanity.

I mean, I've been at stages
where, you know,

I'd work 20 hours a day,

you know,
go to sleep for two hours,

get up again and do it

because I actually was addicted

to not having a conversation and
in my own head.

You know, to me it was one of
the most delightful things

that you could ever do
was to be so busy

you were just on the edge of
absolute and utter exhaustion.

[rock'n'roll track plays]

♪ I said hey, look

♪ How did I find you? ♪♪

He's like a really
factory guy, yeah?

Produce, produce,
produce, produce.

Work, commitment, get it done.

♪ Oh when you're down
and beaten... ♪

He'll cancel plans,
he won't go out to dinner,

he'll go home and start working
on a proposal or start drawing,

whatever he needs to do to make
this new, fun thing happen.

♪ Well, there's no use
crying on your own ♪

He is this uncontrollable
creative force

that just keeps coming and
coming and coming and coming.

Some people may say,
"OK, just stop now, slow down,"

and he's like,
"No, no, fuck you, I won't."

♪ I'm gonna keep on... ♪♪

Push and push and push

till he actually falls in a
heap, you know,

head down in a pillow

and he doesn't actually move for
two hours.

And then he'll be up
and he'll be like, "Hey, guys!"

♪ I said, darling ♪♪

♪ What's it all come to? ♪♪

Part of that is that's his
therapy, that's his process

for staying on an even keel
is to just keep on working

and keep on being interested
in new things

and new people
and new ideas.

♪ All I need's to be
working with you ♪♪

It's a scary experience to have
a mind that doesn't stop,

and to experience
waves of anxiety,

panic, fear, depression.

David's talking about it
to help himself.

And the by-product
is that it helps other people,

and he's probably like,

"That's great that
it helps other people"

"but I'd talk about it anyway,"
and it's the same with his art.

"It's great that some people
really like it

"and it makes people feel good.

I'd make it anyway."

[cans whooshing]

He doesn't give a shit

what people think of either him
or his work.

He is what he is,

and the work that he produces is
what he produces.

It's the thing that fires him
and nurtures him and heals him.

♪ Crying on your own ♪

Fuck, it's a beautiful time
of night, isn't it? Man!

Everything looks good
this time of night.

Um, I, um

have a reasonably
colourful history

of going to see people
many years ago for, um...

advice or help

or pleading with them
to try and work out the puzzle

in my head.

I attempted to kill myself
on my 33rd birthday,

and I remember that 'cause
I tried at 23 and I tried at 33.

I tried to hang myself,
and, you know,

I don't know what I did wrong.

To be suicidal is one of the
lowest senses or positions

you can be mentally.

You want to escape yourself.

You want to run away
from yourself.

You spend an immense
amount of time

not wanting to be
in your own body.

You're like a cat
on a hot tin roof

and perhaps you have been
for years.

It hurts just to put your feet
on the ground

and, wherever you go,

yourself follows yourself around
and you just want to edit that.

Certainly, as a younger man,

the rest of your life seemed
like the bigger thing,

and, if you are not having

anything but a torrid time with
your life

and you imagine eternity
going through these things.

I mean, at my age now,

I don't look at things in life
forward as an eternity,

so if I have a bad day
or a tough day or something,

I try and snap out of it
pretty quickly

because I can see the finite
amount of time that I have left.

When I made a commitment
to never do that again,

the trouble sometimes
when you say to yourself,

"Well, I'm gonna rebuild my
life..."

The reality is, you know,

anyone you hurt or the person
that left you,

they still don't want you.

You know?

You haven't gone, "Well, I'm OK,
I'm gonna build a new life

and everyone's gonna see me
as this new person."

You know?

The clouds
are still gonna be dark

or some days
are still gonna be horrible

and that can seem infinite
in its challenge.

But then, through being
at the very bottom

and being in those
particular situations,

you start to try and articulate

how you can possibly
utilise things better

by seeking an avenue
for your brain

not to be distracted by a
certain nothingness.

You put it to work

and so therefore you start to
get fascinated in things,

and then it becomes natural
and then it becomes interesting

and then you follow up
more things

and, as the cycle can spiral
down, the cycle can spiral up.

I certainly enjoyed the sense,
I suppose, of devil may care.

Some of my favourite times
because it was just like,

well, I'm not gonna ever
attempt suicide again

but I really don't give a shit.

[laughs]

And flying in the face of it

and it's probably
some of the most

emotionally well times I've
been,

not necessarily happy

or not necessarily feeling well
inside of myself,

but so incredible 'cause,
when I met Yuge,

I developed trust
in another person again

and a feeling that things
were special

and they meant something

and that hard shell
that I had built up

was starting to soften again

and I started to, you know, get
my anxiety back and stuff.

'Cause the devil may care thing
had gone and I cared again.

Oh, my God, what I went through.
The confusion of...

Oh, my God, now I've got this
thing that I want.

And it's funny.

I think Yuge would say

that she went through a similar
thing, too,

this feeling of such love and
support from another person,

and the crazy just comes back

'cause this is a really nice
place to live.

Yeah, I don't want to
fuck it up,

I don't want to mess
it up. Yeah, here we go...

[chuckles]

[gentle music plays]

He's brilliant.

I reckon he worked out in utero

that he better get with the
program or get left behind,

so he just came out going,

"Alrighty, I'll just make sure
I'm really, really good for you

because I know you guys
are gonna be full on."

Oh, yeah!

The old Castlemaine Gaol.

Was built in the
something or other or other.

Not interested in a jail
at all, like...

We've gotta keep
running the business.

How are we gonna buy a jail?

I love it. I love this tree.

Oh, look at this red colour,
darling.

Oh, I love that.

Oh...

I love it!

Hey, Yuge, I love this place.

My head's turning and I'm going,
"What do we do with the jail?"

And I said to David, "I'll only
consider putting an offer in

if you hear me out
what I think we should do."

'Cause I don't want to do
what we've done before.

I don't want to open a gallery,

but picture it not being a jail,
you know?

Imagine a museum-type place.

You walk in and you just see
these huge kids' sculptures,

you know, something with whimsy

and that we can shift the axes
of how you look at a jail

from something so oppressive
to something much more romantic.

And he's like,
"Yeah, I love it."

And I bet he was just like,

"OK, Yuge's on board. I'll love
whatever she says.

"I don't care.
I've got her attention."

"I love it, I love it."

Let's do it.

Reality sets in

when you bring half a dozen
major sculptural pieces.

As we drove home yesterday,

we said,
"Let's just go bat shit crazy."

Fuck it, let's just go bat shit
crazy.

Let's just go mad.

I think, also, too, we just
want it to be a fun place.

[chuckles]

♪ You're a mess,
take a long deep breath ♪

♪ And get it off your chest ♪♪

♪ I don't have the answers ♪

♪ But they're probably
somewhere in the question ♪♪

♪ They usually are ♪

♪ Nowhere I'd rather go ♪

♪ Than with you
on your downward spiral ♪♪

♪ I'll be your wing
man anytime ♪♪

♪ Like you are mine

♪ If there's something
that can't be helped ♪

♪ Something that... ♪

-Is that your oven cleaner?
-Yeah.

Crap your eyes, tongue.

It tastes like
kissing a battery.

!♪ 'Cause when I talk you down ♪♪

♪ I confess I'm an optimist ♪

♪ And that makes you tired
and restless ♪

♪ I don't have the answers ♪♪

♪ But they're probably
somewhere in the question ♪♪

♪ They usually are ♪

♪ Still laugh
at the same things ♪♪

♪ Same jokes,
it's quite concerning ♪♪

♪ You can be
my wing man anytime ♪♪

♪ Bullshit, you can be mine ♪

!♪ I just want to talk you down

Oh!

[song ends]

Oh, the jail,

which he apparently is gonna
open next year,

sort of a personal museum.

I mean,
that's another sidebar too,

open your own museum
to yourself.

And when you get to that
kind of level,

the general attitude
is not exactly disdain,

although that's
probably accurate.

It's like, "Get away.

That's a bit too much, thanks."

If we really thought about it
much more,

we probably would've stopped at

the considering to buy the jail
part

and just not gone down
that path.

We've not made a cent
in five years

and we've poured
so much into it.

You know, that side of things,
you just go,

if you thought about it
too much, you'd give up.

I think maybe David,
with his such active mind,

seeks out those situations
that feel near impossible

because then it occupies your
mind through the challenges

and through the hard work,

and he just keeps pushing and
pushing and pushing.

Paint tin lids!

[lid clattering]

Rope!

-Which is low and which is high?
-Right side's lower.

So it's lower.

So it needs to be about that?

OK, do you want to see
if there's a bit of sticky tape

or card or...?

Nuh, fuck it, let's not mess
around, I just won't use those.

So annoying.

Everything's broken.

[kid singing]

We better jump in.

Go! Three, two, one.

Watch your step.

[groaning]

Babe, please.

Push.

No, I don't agree.

-You know what, push back!
-Watch out, bub!

-You're gonna kill someone.
-No, well...

You are, you're going to
actually hurt someone.

Babe, don't give me
a hard time.

I'm not giving you
a hard time.

You don't have to
fuck up the day.

Every single thing that
I ask for hasn't happened.

There's shit in
all the doorways.

Everything's broken.
Don't say...

The stuff that I've asked
everyone to do...

It's just... It's not fuck... It's not the
Fred Flintstone era.

And this thing...

See, it's more expensive
to fix this.

Sorry, this is all I do all day
is find broken shit everywhere.

[sombre music plays]

[ominous crash]

There's obviously
a few different ways

of reading
the actual statement

running from the voices
in my head.

You know, they will follow you.

You know, you think that you've
set up all of the...you know,

if you block certain areas

or you've improved your health

and then suddenly, fuck, there
it is again.

And you haven't
even recognised it

because it's to... you know,
it's wearing, you know,

totally different clothes.

Or you're completely different
or, you know,

for instance, you've been
functioning remarkably

and then suddenly you go
full-blown panic attack

because you're fucked again,

and then you go, "Please, don't
let this happen to me now."

"Oh, I'll give up drinking."

Oh,
I've already given up drinking.

"Maybe you shouldn't smoke."
I don't smoke.

"Maybe you should be healthy
and run and swim and surf."

Well, I do that already.

"Maybe you should look at work
that will interest you."

I'm doing that already.

And that's when
I've been

more highly aware of, you know,
my illness.

For me, having had this
since I was about 14,

so what's that, 46 years
or something like that,

I mean, come on. 46 years of doing the juggle
and still some days

I get the knock-out punch like
you would not fucking believe.

Only last week, it took me
four hours of lying in the bed

and I had to move my position,
I reckon, every three minutes

just to, sort of,
stretch my body

or move it in a
different way

because I was scared

I was gonna turn into a frozen
piece of steel

because my anxiety
was so incredibly high.

It was just fucking ridiculous.

Tell you what,

if I had a David
Bromley fucked-in-the-head bomb

that I could throw at people
and just say,

"Look, just stand over there,
I'll just throw this at ya.

Try ten minutes of this."

I mean, mate, I'd be chucking it
even at my friends

just so we could become closer
or just for a prank.

[machinery whirrs]

Mm.

Ooh!

Some very early stuff here.

These would've been
the sort of things

that I would've been
painting on my pottery.

There's me as a scarecrow.

Whenever I look back at
paintings I've done of myself,

"it just seems so contrived and
you think, 'You fucking wanker."

I'll... Yeah, I've stopped
doing that.

But, you know,

I quite like the thought of the
guy drilling the hole

through the bottom of the boat
to sink, you know,

his ex-girlfriend's boat.

I may be talking about

what the person I was with was
trying to do with me there.

You know, I used to
walk into galleries

and show them stuff like this

and, you know,
I sold very, very well.

You know,
I enjoyed it immensely then.

It certainly took me
off the street

and, I must say, if there's
anything I like about them,

you know, it's...there's a warm
smile that I have at that.

Yeah, I haven't seen these
for a long time.

Oh, why so sad
when the sky's so blue?

That's what I mean, just the
sheer obviousness, I suppose,

of that's me going through,

like, major, you know,
depression and shit like that.

Fucking hell, this dude
just keeps falling over.

This person's laughing
and falling over.

This is, you know,
a person losing their house.

I told you I was insecure. Shit.

About, you know...

It just shows how much I did
feel like, you know, I just...

I was clawing to,
you know, survive.

Some of the most painful things
in my life

are not career challenges

but, you know,
partners leaving me and stuff

because it was just too hard.

It's like being nail gunned
to a wall,

you know, or left out
in the middle of a desert.

I mean, I felt like that
emotionally anyway,

let alone the reality of,
you know,

falling out with people
that I love

because, without it,
it just means fuckin' nothing.

I was that in need of
companionship and, you know,

you spend an inordinate amount
of time by yourself

at the easel.

Months would go by
without a phone call.

You know, my first major fears
were of infinity

and, I mean, loneliness
can be infinite, you know,

like a fuckin' abyss.

I yearned for richness and
deepness of narrative and stuff.

I was desperate for
creative and cultural resonance.

You know, I'd spent the
last years reading every book

on every artist
I could possibly find.

And, like, because I was
trying to heal myself,

I was hangin' round with dudes
that did yoga.

And they'd look at some of the
dark shit I'm making

and sort of go, "Fuck,
no wonder you're depressed."

And then you go out
into the arts scene

and you do something light,
and people are sort of, like

"Where's the tough stuff?"

I just... I don't have the
constitution for it

and, you know, so...

If I would've walked
down that path,

I mean, I would be dead by now.

I had to clean up my own act
because my body and mind

couldn't take the other stuff
and I'm glad.

I fuckin' like my life.

I'm not criticising others

but, if every sort of, like,
critic or something

seems to think
that you've gotta walk this edge

or the quality of your work

needs to show such, you know,
like, risk taking constantly...

And that edge, I'm certainly not
going to that edge

'cause someone wants me to.

And how many have we lost?

How many great people
have we lost

because other people
were almost encouraging them on?

And, again,
I'm not against them.

I've had... I've had times

where I fuckin' have had to go
screaming

hurting, the sheer fuckin'
pain of living,

and, if I can find time to,

like, enjoy what I do on a daily
basis

through a sense of, sort
of, you know, like, a warmth,

transcending, you know,
emotional sort of challenge,

fuckin' putting a painting up
on the wall

because it looks fuckin' cool...

But it doesn't... it doesn't not
need that other stuff, as well.

I mean, fuck, I'm a consumer
of that other stuff.

I don't know, I just feel like
I've got another job to do.

[gently lilting
electric guitar music plays]

He doesn't draw dark.
I see only love in his art.

It's always - does it
make you happy?

A lot of David's work, I find,
it gives people hope.

Bromley's work, really,
is about beauty.

And joy. Childhood memories.

He's thinking about
a contemporary child's life

but also about what it's like
to have been a child yourself

and to imagine our parents
as children.

There's something beautiful and
humbling about that continuity,

that seeing these
God-like figures

as actually children in their
own right once upon a time.

[David] I've been called
a lightweight a million times.

I've been called a flavour
of the month for 30-odd years.

And, you know, I've had people
come up to me and said,

"You know, I just don't get it.

There's nothing of any substance
in it."

So, there's no substance
in innocence, joy?

[chuckles]

You know, I think it is one of
the most important things.

You know, one of the most
difficult things for any artist

is to do something
which is yours,

some vision that's yours,

something fresh and exciting
and new to say

that truly comes from the soul
and the empathy of that person.

Everything that comes out

is driven by this childlike
enthusiasm

to explore and be adventurous

and it's so beautiful and so
infectious,

and, if it ends up just being
a moment that you've experienced

something special by yourself
or with the people around you,

then it's done its job
and that's what art's for.

Look, there I am!

Let me do the thing.

Ultimately,
we're all seeking joy.

It's not always
easy to find.

So, if your legacy
is the creation of joy,

I think that's immense.

My first Bromley piece,
I'm so excited.

His art's just fun. You look at it and it makes
you smile, it makes you happy.

At the end of the day, that's
what art's supposed to do.

[applause]

They're gonna be looked at
as this power couple

who were, like, the greats
in the Australian art world.

Kids will see this,
they'll see his lifestyle,

and they'll say, "Wow, that
makes me want to be an artist."

"I won't have to make coffee
eight hours a day"

"and paint at night."

She knows painting!

He's the genuine artist
of our time.

A proper evaluation should occur

to give him his place in the
history of Australian art.

But it will be a long time.

It won't be in my lifetime
or his

when Bromley
will get a retrospective

at the National Gallery
of Victoria.

We're calling it The Bromley
Collection Museum

at the old Castlemaine Gaol.

More than anything, they're just
artists that we love collecting

or works that we've had the
great fortune to come across.

You know, everything has a
very personal connection to us.

I was asked by a financial paper

to put down a value of our art,

and I said, "Well, let me
put it this way."

"If I didn't have any art around
me, I couldn't breathe."

You know?

I look at the value of art by
imagining that it wasn't around.

There's the value of it.

It's like water, you know,
air, you know,

I couldn't breathe without it.

And they said,
"No, apply an actual figure"

"or something like that."

So I said, "I just did."

David has taken a place

that really represents the chaos
and the confusion

of the human mind
and put flowers in there.

You know, the first thing
you see

is this, kind of, incredible,
colourful creatures everywhere

and it was just this...
from the dark to the light

walking through
those front gates.

[gentle acoustic guitar
music plays]

♪ Goodbye my
Santa Monica dream ♪♪

♪ 15 kids, in the backyard
drinking wine ♪

In the jail, we're putting
plants in a lot of the cells,

so just bringing them in here,
getting them used to the lights.

!♪ And the ones you left behind

Dad just was the hugest reader.

That's my beautiful dad.

[sniffles]

What do they say, the apple fell
a fair way from the tree?

Occasionally, people say,
"You look like your dad."

Me, my brother and my dad.

That's the last box

I undid years, years after they
were all dead.

I stop and say hello to them
nearly every day.

[sniffles]

Mum gets a bad rap, you know,
from me

because Dad was the
apple of my eye.

But Mum was good when...
when the shit really came down.

You know, I used to wish
that she was more that person.

You know, when my brother
was dying,

and we had to turn off
his life support,

you know, as anything that was
still keeping him alive

was still in there,

my mum just called out
and she said,

"Look, Paul was so gregarious
and so outgoing,

"I think the last sound
he should hear is cheering.

Let's cheer him out."

And then she just roared
at the top of her voice,

you know, just saying, you know,
"Here's cheers for Paul."

And I always think,
"You fucking beautiful woman."

Like, he would've
gone out to, like,

"Yeah, Paul, yeah, yay!"

I believe a nice way to be
going out, you know?

♪ I could call you
on the telephone ♪

My brother was
a technical genius

who could build everything,

but I think I got my dad's...

Let's put it this way.

If Dad built a pergola
or something,

walking under it was probably
not the best idea.

On the weekend,
he used to collect old tools

and these are all his
old fold-out rulers.

Man, I loved my dad.

♪ I'm somewhere

♪ You're somewhere

You know, I always remember him
saying to me,

you know, he was frail,
doing up this old house

and he was incapable of it,

and he just said,
"David, you've gotta understand,

"what you're looking at
is not me, it's frailty.

It's not me."

When did this happen?
It happened so fast?

He said,
"You've gotta understand"

"that I'm just still
a little boy."

And I just think, you know,

maybe we should listen to that
little boy a little bit more...

Or that little girl.

You know, I don't know when
people stopped

being that in their life.

♪ 15 kids, in the backyard
drinking wine ♪

♪ You tell me stories
of this faith ♪

Whoo!

♪ And the ones we left behind

The reason I'm actually gonna
take 15 minutes

to actually get in
is, in all seriously,

I am scared I'm gonna die if I
jump straight in

which would be really frickin'
cool for the documentary, but...

It ended abruptly!

Yeah, that's it, exactly, yeah.
How'd he die?

Oh, just watch the end
of the documentary.

How did his children handle it
and his wife?

Just watch, they were there.

Oh!

Seriously! Just say just go in!
Oh! It's cruel!

Well, actually, no-one's
asked me but myself to go in,

and now my back's cramping up.

Don't, please, don't.

She's the one to watch out for,
the splasher.

Fuck!

Oh! Oh! Oh, I'm co...

Oh, it's so horrible!

-Oh!
-Wow.

Brain freeze!

Oh!

[shouts in discomfort]

What noise was that?

[kid squeals]

[gentle acoustic music plays]

I have never met another person

who lives with his eyes open
as much as I have with David.

Whether it's to do with people,
art, ideas, creation,

it's how he lives.

He's taught me
to have my mind open

to go on that journey to broaden
that vision of life is.

♪ 25 years
and my life is still ♪

♪ Trying to get up this
great big hill of hope ♪

♪ For a destination

He is both
the most giving person

that I think I've come across,

and giving not just in
material things,

but of himself,

of his
knowledge, of his creativity.

He's a giver,
an extraordinary giver.

♪ For whatever that means

I don't think he finds life easy

but he's determined not to
succumb to that.

You know, it's part of
his process

about rising to the occasion
on a daily basis.

God!

♪ I'm feeling
a little peculiar ♪

I don't know how many layers
are on my shoes but

I love,
at the end of the day,

givin' 'em a

givin' 'em a clean-up.

My trousers, too.

A lot of people wouldn't think

that David is somebody who
struggles,

especially someone with a laugh
as big as his.

You know, I think he manages
so beautifully

and I think he's so much more
aware of how much he has to lose

now that he's got a real sense
of fight in him

that I don't think existed
in the same way

when he was younger.

And that's due in part to Yuge
and to the kids

and all of the wonderful things
that he has in his life.

Hey!

♪ And I try

We talk about it all the time,

that what we are doing

is essentially in hope that one
of our kids,

or all of our kids,
would like to take over one day.

That would be an absolute
dream of ours,

and, if they want to,

through being exposed to it from
an early age,

then that would be magical.

♪ Every single day ♪♪

What a nice day to be outside!

[laughter]

♪ So I cry sometimes
when I'm lying in bed ♪

If I could tell you how happy
I am about being alive,

there's just no vocabulary

to turn around and say just how
fuckin' much I love life.

Like, it's embarrassing,
you know?

I'm wet-my-pants excited

by virtually every minute of
every day.

It's fucking glorious.

I just... I love my life
so much.

I love my wife so much.
I love my kids so much.

I love my mates.
I love what I do.

I love the air.
I love the sky. I'm...

Like, there is absolutely
no doubt

that I've got a certain
brain damage,

something's pressing on
a part of my brain

where I absolutely love it,

and I think that's why
I'm so cut when, you know,

I'm hurting deeply or something,

but maybe that's also why I
appreciate it so much.

♪ I said hey

♪ What's going on?

They call Matisse
the painter of light.

But he said
it took a lot of darkness

for him to be the
painter of light, and I...

You know, I want to be a bit of
a painter of joy or light,

but I don't just want it
to come from darkness.

♪ 25 years
and my life is still ♪

♪ Trying to get up the
great big hill of hope ♪

♪ For a destination

♪ Don't be concerned
about your car not working ♪

♪ Boy, you're losing it ♪

!♪ Don't be confused about these
games you're playing ♪

♪ You are choosing it ♪

♪ Leave it alone now,
just need time ♪

♪ Time

♪ Leave it alone now,
you will find ♪

♪ Find

♪ We all have the lightness
to be OK ♪♪

♪ OK, OK for now ♪

♪ We all have the lightness
to be OK ♪

♪ OK, OK for now ♪♪

♪ Don't be concerned about
your job not working out ♪

♪ You will figure out ♪

♪ Every moment will pass
in a moment ♪♪

♪ Everything that you need
will be open ♪

♪ Leave it alone now,
you just need time ♪

♪ Time

♪ Leave it alone now,
you will find ♪

♪ Find ♪

♪ We all have the lightness
to be OK ♪

♪ OK, OK for now ♪

♪ We all have the lightness
to be OK ♪

♪ OK, OK for now ♪

♪ Love is all we needed
to be here for ♪

♪ Love is all we needed
to be here for ♪

So, Sean,
you're doing a documentary.

What does that entail?

All of the Bromleys saying,

"Look at me do this, look at me
do that."

[Yuge laughing]

"Look at our dog, look at our
dog running through the grass."

Actually, he is...he's...

I'm telling you,
he'll just love it.

['Peer Gynt - Suite No. 1, Op.
46' by Edvarg Grieg plays]

[laughter]

Fuck you, guys,
you're always hanging around!

I don't even know who you are!
Very invasive!

From the council.

[mock screams]

This is me crying.
[mock screams]

Sean, you know what's happened?

You know what's happened

with all the years of hanging
around me?

-What's that?
-You've become an art critic.

-Yeah!
-Come here, come here.

Hello, hello, hello, hello!
[singsong voice]

-OK.
-Right.

Where are we going?

Going to look at the patterns
and hopefully finding the Milo.

Your Milo. I know where
my Milo is.

Oh, there's mine!

No, that's actually mi...
Oh, yeah.

That's mine. -Mine's on that side.
-That's my Milo!

Sean! This is what happens
when your film is a flop.

Off with your head
and in the cabinet!

[laughter]
You're cute!

Yes, little red blobby man.

Oh, you haven't seen Dave's
amazing big artworks up here!

Come have a look.
Oh, they're so nice.

What is the crab?

Oh... It's actually a French
sculptor called... Ooh, shit!

Are you OK, Sean?

I was going in for the crab.

[taps a gentle melody]

[taps melodically]