Trouble in Paradise

Nearly three decades after he first moved to Bali, artist Ashley Bickerton tells dramatic tales of building, then nearly losing, then rebuilding his tropical hideaway—and how the island’s dark side inspires his work

By Christopher DeWolf.

Ashley Bickerton used to have a nice house on the south side of Bali. “I dare say I had one of the better-looking houses on the island at one point,” says the Barbados-born American artist, who has lived in Indonesia since 1993. “But this is the tropics—things don’t last long.” When Tatler’s photographer arrived to shoot the property in November, its traditional straw roof, made with fibres from the ylang ylang tree, was in ruins. Parts of it barely clung to the house’s wooden frame. Big clumps were piled near the swimming pool. A row of Bickerton’s latest artworks—colourful collages that blur the line between painting and sculpture—hid beneath a trellis as workers hammered away at what was left of the roof. “It’s high maintenance, it only lasts about 10 years and…

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Tatler Hong Kong (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2020

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