David Bromley Long Tom

Long Tom Tjapanangka is from the Pintupi tribe. Born around 1930, he was a stockman and police tracker before concentrating on his art. In her book Contemporary Aboriginal art, Susan McCulloch writes that: 'Long Tom’s large, bold planes of colour and sharp observation of the elements of his country have made his paintings as memorable as they are identifiable.’ He won the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Prize in 1999 and is represented in many public collections nationally.

David Bromley loves Long Tom’s work and collects it. When he saw a picture of the artist he was very taken by the way he looked and wanted to paint him out of a respect for both the artist and his work. Learning that Long Tom would be coming to Adelaide for an exhibition, Bromley arranged to meet Tjapanangka.

Long Tom always wears his stockman’s hat so that was a given, says Bromley. With his colour choice, Bromley says he wanted to avoid the predictable reds and ochres. 'I wanted the work to go beyond colour so that it becomes a portrait of a great man.’

Born in England in 1960, Bromley arrived in Australia in 1964. He lives and works in Adelaide. He was a finalist in the 2000 Sporting Prize and the 1999 Archibald Prize.