The first batik by New York-based Lee Long Looi in the Henry Butcher art auction was in its October 2012 edition, and it turns out that he has consistently done several, though they are seldom dated. He had won thrice consecutively in 1977 in the United States for his batik works. Here, three lasses in Baju Melayu and sarung and with the hair neatly combed back are having a chat in the open, with birds hovering around. As usual, the theme is peace and harmony. Long Looi graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in 1964 and furthered his studies at the Art Student League and the Pratt Institute in New York in 1970, the same year he held his first solo at the Jarvis Art Gallery there. In 1997, he was given a retrospective by The Art Gallery Penang, which reprised with a bigger one in 2010 complete with a coffee-table book publication, Voices From My Art Spirit: The Art of Lee Long Looi. This was followed by an exhibition at Art Salon@SENI.