Kamadhatu
© Bruce Carleton 1991
When I quit New York to move to Southeast Asia in 1984, I was consciously bidding farewell to the idea of pursuing a career in either commercial art or fine art (as in the stuff that goes on gallery walls). But I kept drawing. Especially in the early days in Jakarta when I had no money and very few friends to hang out with. I’d sit in my room in a cheap lodging house on the edge of town with nothing to do in the evening except draw. That, combined with sexual frustration, led to some of my best stuff. Years later, even though the pace had slowed (I had friends, money, and very little sexual frustration by then), I was still turning out drawings in my 7 3/4” x 5” spiral notebooks. In 1991 put some of the money to good use and compiled a bunch of these pieces into a book I had printed there there in Jakarta. It was called Kamadhatu, which is the Sanskrit word for the "Realm of Desire." The run was 500. I sold some at the time at cost ($1.00 each), gave others away later, and lost a few bundles of them along the line. I still have a couple dozen or so, in case anyone is interested (not for $1.00 anymore, though).