Overwhelmed

Description

This surreal painting depicts a man who is fascinated by the beauty of an ocean of flowers. Butterflies and dolphins are chasing each other at a distance. It overwhelms him and takes him into another world, the darker past of his life.  He imagines leaving his comfortable life (his boat) and diving into the unknown. As he drifts into the abyss of his memory, he sees himself stranded in an underworld where large leaves completely obstructing the sunlight, and is in darkness. When he reaches the ocean floor gigantic stems block his vision leading him further into the bottomless chasm of his past, and he reminisces about past indecisions. Budiarta is reminiscing about his journey in art, full of forks in the road, and consequently many roads not taken. Robert Frost, the author of the celebrated poem “The Road Not Taken” ends with: “I shall be telling this with a sigh; somewhere ages and ages hence: two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”