For two decades, Maico Camilo's life was measured in hotel lobbies and time zones. His husband, Lyndon Bray, was an international rugby referee — away more than 200 nights a year, with no such thing as a home game. Camilo, who moved from Brazil to New Zealand in 2005 to study and improve his English, hadn't even picked up a paintbrush. Art wasn't part of the plan.
That changed once Bray, now 59, retired after more than 20 years in the whistle. The couple flipped the dynamic: Bray encouraged Camilo to commit to painting properly, and gave him the time, space and resources to try it as a career. Camilo, now 43, is effectively self-taught — but as Bray points out, the success didn't come overnight. It came from routine, discipline and years of hard graft in a Wellington apartment where the first works were hung on the wall.
It's paid off. Camilo has become known for energetic, heavily textured canvases in neon colours and bold patterns — work built around self-expression, connection and joy — and now exhibits internationally. His new show, Unapologetically Dazzling, opens at Turua Gallery in St Heliers, Auckland, featuring pieces from his My Wonderful Self, Infinite Bloom, Abstract and Bold Figuratives series.
The couple's story is a reminder of how travel-heavy careers shape relationships. Camilo tagged along to four or five Rugby World Cups, living in host countries for three or four months at a stretch. Those stints — extended stays abroad rather than quick holidays — gave him an immersion in new places most travellers never get. The trade-off was the relentlessness of professional sport, a world he describes as inherently selfish, held together by constant conversation and honest compromise.
There's a personal detail worth the read too: Bray grew up in a family where the word "love" was never spoken. From his 40th birthday onwards, he and Camilo made a habit of saying it to each other every day, good days and bad. Twenty years on, it's non-negotiable.
Why does this matter to travellers? Auckland's eastern bays are easy to overlook in favour of the Waitakere ranges or Waiheke Island, but St Heliers has a quiet gallery scene worth a detour. If you're in the city while Unapologetically Dazzling is on, it's a chance to see a genuinely distinctive New Zealand-based artist whose work was two decades in the making — much of it sketched out in Rugby World Cup cities. Pair it with a stroll along Tamaki Drive and lunch by the water, and you've got a properly good Auckland morning.
