It is the year 1999 and I’m working on a project for what is now known as Kinhll Brown & Root (KBR). Brown & Root is an American company based out of Texas that is own by Halliburton. In light of issues expected to impact computer systems as a result of the calendar turning over from 19xx to 20xx, Halliburton initiated a project world-wide to implement a computer software system (SAP) that would meet the requirements of all current systems to be implemented as from 1 January 2000.
It was an ambitious project. Three teams were established – Europe/Africa, the Americas (north and south) and Asia/Mid-East. I found myself as the Lead of the Asia/Mid East team. Although my map shows Egypt in north Africa, I also had responsibility for Egypt. The Americans saw it as middle eastern in nature rather than its geographic position.
My team was made up of Brits, Scots, Americans, Malaysians, Australians and one person from Singapore. There were 11 of us on the team.
It was while we were working in Singapore that I acquired this painting.
The working conditions in the Singapore office were difficult. We were all in the one room – the boardroom – and with our laptops all seated around this table with just enough room between us for our elbows. Even our cups of coffee or water had to be in spill-free containers and placed behind our laptops on the table. Needless to say that spending from 8.30 am to 6.00 pm in such an environment with only a 30 minute lunchbreak was often trying. On the other hand, communication between us was great as there were no barriers whatsoever between us!
At the end of the day we would relax in a food court not far from where we lived. This enabled the Americans to have their hamburgers, the Brits and Scots a curry and the Australians invariably headed for what was cheap as they were saving their allowance for better things such as independent travel once their assignment was complete.
It was after dinner on one such evening that I then went for a walk through one of the large shopping centres. It was raining, so no sense in having a walk outside.
Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw some vivid blue – the kind of blue that I always associate with Australian skies. Having spent time in Europe I had discovered that light and colour there is more muted, as if a veil or mist is often over the vision, softening everything. In Australia the light is harsher, more stark.
By this time, while getting closer to home by being in Singapore, I had been out of the country for over six months and the sight of this blue left me with a pange of home-sickness.
On reaching the hoarding that displayed a painting with this rich blue, I discovered that it was outside an art gallery that was featuring the art of a French artist by the name of Larrieu. This surprised me as I was sure that with this rich blue it would have been an Australian artist.
To my surprise, Larrieu was present in the gallery. The exhibition was from the Opera Gallery of Paris and they were touring with a collection of Larrieu’s paintings. I was introduced to him and asked him about the blue, telling him that I thought it was by an Australian. He said that he had visited Australia the previous year and agreed with me about the blue. However, the main influence on his work was the artist Kadinsky.
I purchased this painting, entitled “Byciclette” and was presented with the catalogue for the exhibition which Larrieu inscribed to me and did a further sketch of the Byciclette.
The next challenge for me was how to get this painting home! I had no suitcase big enough to hold it and so the hunt was on. I ended up with a very large suitcase that I never used again.
The painting continues to give me joy. There is so much in it. Each time I look at it I see something else. It reminds me that you can have many things that are designed for a specific purpose that you can put together to create something special in its own right without losing the integrity of the components.
Faye Schmidt's Thoughts 