This painting is about escaping to freedom. The artist says “Flight is a picture of a man who escaped a slave ship. He was part of the boat machine – one of the many rowers. So the ship crashed and he found an axe. He is about to join that stag in the wild. I got the idea from the late scene in ‘Cool Hand Luke.’ I still worry for this escapee though, seeing as Luke ended up trapped in the church with Dragline.”⠀
When asked if the man is blind or in a trance, Hillestad replied that yes, the man may be experiencing euphoria of his new-found freedom although “Perhaps metaphorically blind to the consequences.”