The life of an oil-rig worker called a roughneck is tough and dangerous. They work gruelling 12-hour shifts on a derrick tower in inhospitable conditions, often exposed to hazardous materials like flammable gases and pressure-cooker systems. In 1963, when Hoessein Enas, later a Dato', painted this in a Miri oilfield as part of the commissioned The Malaysians series, the crew member was unprotected, clad only in standard cotton and denim paints. It was not until the 1970s that flame-resistant coveralls became mandatory. Though he has a hard hat over his head, he doesn't have safety glasses. By 1963, the oil production had dried up. It is an independent solitary job, usually far from land with the swirling ocean around. This is also one instance when Hoessein broke from his bevy of local nubile beauties, to capture an oil worker, with obvious unsung heroic qualities. A prominent pioneer artist, Indonesia-born Dato' Hoessein Enas was accorded a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, in 1966, 10 years after being granted Malaysian citizenship. Made a 'royal painter' by the then Sultan of Selangor in May 1990, he was conferred the Dato' title by the same Sultan in March 1991. He is best known for having founded in 1956 the Angkatan Pelukis Semenanjung (later SeMalaysia), and headed it until 1964. It was based on a similar society he formed in Medan, Indonesia. He had the distinction of having his first solo exhibition abroad, at the Charniel Gallery, Chelsea, London, in 1960. Among his accolades were the Unesco fellowships (1960), the United States fellowship (1969), an Asian Foundation grant (1960) and twice the Colombo Plan, in 1968 and 1976.