Roosters strut into the canvas of Jalaini Abu Hassan's narrative repertoire, for reasons sometimes unrelated to the Chanticleer fowl, and not for the stock signifiers. For instance, Hulu Balang Kuala Sepetang (2005) is a tribute to fellow artist Latiff Mohidin. Jai, as the artist is popularly known, hinted as much in the Bingkai Berankai exhibition at the Valentine Willie Fine Art in 2012: "My concern is not so much of what the images show, but rather how they are seen." The textual scrawlings are replete in Jai's repertoire and here, the clue is in the Sumatran song, Ayam Den Lapeh, which is also a popular standard among Malaysian singers such as Anita Sarawak and Dato' Sri Siti Nurhaliza. Jai has a double Masters in Painting from the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1988) and the Pratt Institute, New York (1994) after his BFA at the Mara ITM in 1985. His first solos were abroad, Malaysia Hall in London (1987), and for drawing, New Gallery in New York (1994), before his home solo at ITM in 1996. Although it was his Lifeform solo at Taksu Kuala Lumpur in 1996 that saw a "repackaged" Jai, he was already making waves when he won the Major Award in the Young Contemporary Artist (BMS) competition in 1985 and followed this up with the Gold Award in the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank art competition in 1991. His other accolades include the 1st Prize in the Murray Hill drawing competition in New York in 1994 and the Rado Switzerland commission in 2005.