After fleeing the riots in Jakarta of May 1998, I flew to Bali for a few weeks of uncertain and guilty pleasure. I spent the remainder of the summer refuged in my parents´ home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Feeling homesick for the country in which I had lived more than eight years, yet inspired by the spacious desert and the majestic Organ Mountains, I found this painting pouring out of my brushes. Perhaps a hike in Cibodas on the island of Java and a visit to Lake Batur in Bali may have influenced the choice of subject matter. Many tropical species of birds live freely in Indonesia, but friends have suggested the birds in this painting represent aspects of myself.
© 1998
