작품 상세

Body contact is one of the most communicable of languages extolled in the human spirit, and with the inimitable Ib treatment of Datuk Ibrahim Hussein, it’s a celebration with his spiraling parallel lines and rectangle or square grids rendered in various colours. Hugging, but shown in dissembling forms, for modesty and subtlety, the motive can be seen variously, though in Ib’s vocabulary, it could only be edifying. When the last line or stroke is registered, beauty is the key, that holds up the universe and drives up the ecstasy. One of Malaysia’s most high-profiled international artists, Datuk Ibrahim Hussein was honoured with the highly prestigious World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award (1997), besides Venezuela’s Order of Andres Bello (1993), and Chile’s Order of Bernardo O. Higgins (1996), and Anugerah Tokoh Melayu Terbilang (2007). In 1984, he won the Monte Carlo art prize, and in 1977, he was chosen to exhibit with Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali in Kuwait. Ib studied at the Byam Shaw School (1959-63) and the Royal Academy in London (1963-66) after an unfinished stint at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in Singapore (1956). He was the first Malaysian to take part in the Venice Biennale in 1977. At home, he was accorded a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery in 1986. He also set up the Ibrahim Museum and Cultural Foundation (Langkawi), and organised the Langkawi International Festival of Arts, and the Club Mediterranee Asian Arts Festival in Cherating (Pahang) and Bali.