Acrylic Painting

Bravo Domino

Bravo Domino is an expressionist and abstract artist, who creates worlds that feel like a dreamscape in an 8-bit universe.

Artist Profile

Bravo Domino is an expressionist and abstract artist from Sydney, of Filipino and Irish descent. Having been a hobbyist painter throughout her life, Bravo began painting full time two years ago, after stepping away from a career in music festivals and concert touring.

Bravo is strongly influenced by street art, contemporary abstract landscapes, and neo-expressionism. She works primarily with acrylic, pastel and markers, dissecting surface and space with line work and a strong sense of colour.

While focusing on landscapes and floral subject matter, her work features nostalgic graphic elements and patchwork-style layers that contribute to a strong, urban visual language. Each piece is a dynamic dichotomy of solid, block colours and heavily textured brush strokes that creates fluctuating moments of elation and serenity.

Artist Interview

What medium do you work with, and why have you chosen them?

I primarily work with acrylic, pastels and poscas. I love the vibrant colours and the flexibility to incorporate rich textures and bright, solid blocks. My work involves a lot of layering, so the quick drying time in between is crucial. I really like playing around with unmixed, high-contrast brush strokes and the dramatic street-art style effect it creates. It's so free and unapologetic. A lot of my work includes detailed linework and mark-making in a variety of ways. Sometimes it brings an element of texture and depth, and other times, it pulls everything into a cartoon-like playfulness.

How does your artwork get from initial concept to exhibition stage?

I think I can retrace my steps in a painting about as well as I can retrace my thoughts! Usually, the only thing I'll start with is the broader subject (landscape, florals etc.) and the general stylistic direction. When sketching out the piece, I always start with the overall shape and then build on any details. I tend to really prioritise a balance of breathing room and complexity, making sure there are moments of 'ma' (a Japanese principle). From there, the evolution of the artwork is a moving feast – each ingredient is a reaction to the one before it. I love working this way because it means, at any given moment, the piece in front of me is something I hadn't envisaged, and it's still likely to go somewhere really unexpected. I'm still mastering the art of knowing when to put the brush down. Sometimes there's a definitive sense of completion – but those are rare with the styles I create. Most of the time, you can hear one of two audible announcements from me; 'Enough!' or more often than I would like, a 'Well, I cooked it'!

Can you tell us a little more about your creative working environment/studio?

I work out of a home studio in Sydney's northwest. On one side, it opens out onto a courtyard, and on the other side, it has a clerestory window with views of the nearby bushland. It's not a big space, so I'm regularly shuffling things around but it's full of inspiration and mementos. On the walls, I've got some prints of previous work I've done as references, as well as a few pieces by other artists.