The Andaman boasts of a rich marine diversity and ecosystem and around 1999 Datuk Ibrahim Hussein and wife Datin Sim were already ensconced in their newly built Ibrahim Hussein Museum palisade overlooking Pantai Pasir Tengkorak (Beach of Skulls) in Datai and the Andaman Sea. It is surrounded by Gunung Manchinchang and nearby is a mangrove swamp. Pink dolphins frolicked in the waters though somewhat ominously the former Thai pirate enclave of Turatao could be seen. This work recalls the maritime splendour Ripples, Ibrahim’s work shown in the Contemporary Paintings of Malaysia exhibition in Pasadena in 1988. It bore the animated parallel lines in curvilinear forms when Sim gifted him a set of graphic pens that became his signature style. This 1999 work attempts a cross-section of life and diversity in the depths, underneath the water’s surface. As for the ultramarine pigment, Wassily Kandinsky once intoned: “Blue refers to the domain of abstraction and immateriality.” Certainly, one of the most extraordinarily gifted and iconic of Malaysian artists, Datuk Ibrahim Hussein boasts of several international accolades, the most prestigious of which is the Crystal Award, in 1997, presented by the World Economic Forum. He was also awarded the Order of Andres Bello of Venezuela (1993), the Order of Bernardo Higgins (Chile’s highest honour to a foreigner, 1996), the Japan Foundation Cultural Award (1988) and Malaysia’s Anugerah Tokoh Terbilang (2007). But it was in 1977 when he was invited for the tripartite exhibition that also featured Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, in Kuwait, that catapulted him onto the big world stage. Ib was also the first Malaysian artist to have featured in the Venice Biennale in 1970, under the American Smithsonian Institute. On his own terms, he finally accepted a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, in 1986. He organised the first, and most successful, Langkawi International Festival of Arts in 2000, after setting up his museum and foundation. With the help of his muse and wife Datin Sim, he organised the Club Mediterranee Asian Arts Festival in Cherating (Pahang) and Bali (Indonesia). Ib had his art tutelage at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting (1959-1963) and the Royal Academy in London (1963-1966). A double scholarship of Fulbright and John D. Rockefeller II Fund in the 1960s saw him in the United States, with two solos in New York to boot.