So, who would have thought that the figurative icon Dato’ Hoessein Enas actually bizarrely painted horses (commissioned work), when there was not even a cat representing the animal kingdom in his repertoire? Admittedly, horses are an artist’s nightmare and supreme challenge, there are specialised issues such as anatomy, speed, correct action depictions with even Science taken into consideration. While Hoessein is definitely no Xu Beihong or even in the Malaysian (Australian) pantheon, a Lee Joo-for, that it was by Hoessein Enas is enough, haughty as it may seem, bragging rights. Yes, the possessor of a Hoessein Enas on horses, not one but six of them prancing maniacally. Indonesian-born art pioneer Hoessein Enas boasts of a chequered life from Dutch-Indonesia to his 1947 flight to Singapore and then Penang and finally Kuala Lumpur. Like the Indonesian artists group he founded, he repeated it in Malaysia, with Angkatan Pelukis Semenanjung (later SeMalaysia). After being granted a Malayan citizen in 1956, he was made a royal artist in May 1990 by then Sultan of Selangor, who also conferred him the Dato’ship in March 1991. The National Art Gallery accorded him a Retrospective in 1966. His awards include fellowships from UNESCO (1960) and the United States (1968), an Asia Foundation grant (1960) and the Colombo Plan (1968).