Ruminating about existence, about life and death, and writing it down cogently is tough enough, but artist Husin Hourmain puts such sentiments and spirituality onto canvas, using only the tricolor of white, brown and black. This work from its eponymous solo exhibition, his second, at the Pace Gallery in Petaling Jaya in 2008, is a precursor to his khat-calligraphy painting phase, which has become his métier. Indeed, as Islamic calligraphic art goes, Husin has taken the Alif Ba Ta’s oeuvre of Ahmad Khalid Yusof toa new ‘Alif To Ya’ level, as exemplified in Husin’s third exhibition, Awal Hurouf, Asal Hurouf, at WhiteBox, MAP Publika, Kuala Lumpur, in 2012. “Art is a unique adventure into an unknown world, including of self-discovery,” he had intoned. Husin studied Graphic Design at the Malaysian Institute of Art, graduating in 1982, and followed up with Photographic Studies at the National Youth Skills Institute in 1983. He was set on a career as an artist when he sold his first work for RM1,000 in 1998. But he worked as a graphic designer in the advertising industry for 18 years from 1985-2003 before deciding to go fulltime into art. His first solo exhibition, Energy, was at Galleriizu, Kuala Lumpur, in 2004.