A cigarette between the lips of the face with a bulbous nose adds to a sense of vacuity and a film noir theatricality. In the juxtaposition of a rose, a white horse and a man — God’s creations — against the emblematic sickle moon with a cloud in between, it’s regarding spiritual unity. A solitary white horse stands below, more like a paper-weight adornment in a Magic Realism insertion rather than a pitch at symbolism, either good or bad. Ahmad Zakii’s handling of figures was superb when his Smokers series exploded in his exhibition at Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, in 1997. But there are always the darker moods in the figures. Since Zakii graduated in Graphic Design from the Mara Institute of Technology in 1977, he went into advertising and became hugely successful. After Smokers, Zakii concentrated on Fine Art with solos such as Presence (1999), Bones and Sinews (2011) in the United States; Kota Sunyi (Indonesia, 2007); Shadowland (Hong Kong, 2001); Singapore Tyler Print (2007) and Baik Art (South Korea, 2013), etc.