The title, One And The Same Thing, tends to give the impression that the figures in the painting are a mirror image. Which it could well be, but Datuk Ibrahim Hussein, or Ib, is known to play with dualism (Aku Dan Aku, Chairil Anwar…), so it’s open to conjecture. The figures, likely female, seem seated back to back, with the view at a slight top angle. What is it they are so engrossed about? The colours used are strong: the red patch on top, the Northwestern Purple nocturnal backdrop framed by broad green panels with a sharply delineated green rectangle complete with a green circle, the moon? There’s little of his trademark curvilinear parallel lines although he had started doing that in his residency at Universiti Malaya around 1972. Datuk Ibrahim Hussein studied at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in Singapore in 1956 but did not complete. He graduated from the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting (1959-1963), and the Royal Academy in London (1963-1966). In 1970, he took part in the Venice Biennale through the Smithsonian Institute workshop and in 1977, he was featured in the eventful tripartite exhibition with Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali in Kuwait. He was accorded a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery in 1986. His awards include the Anugerah Tokoh Terbilang (2007), the Japan Foundation Cultural Award (1988), the Monte Carlo 18th International Exhibition of Contemporary Art (1984), the Order of Andres Bello of Venezuela (1993). He set up the Ibrahim Museum and Cultural Foundation in Langkawi in 2000 and celebrated it with the Langkawi International Festival of Arts. He also organised the Club Mediterranee Asian Arts Festival in Cherating (Pahang) and Bali.