It's a beguiling tonal matrix of verticals and horizontals, with the disguised half-naked feminine figures towering over the central composition and the ‘wavy' patterns of the sarong and accentuated lower torso shapes giving an animated sway and sense of movement. The figures are embodied in the different colour play, without the usual outlines in this Khalil Ibrahim's shadow forms shown in different postures, front or back or side, albeit with his deft choreography of colours. Khalil Ibrahim had the distinction of not really having to serve back the government after winning a Pahang State scholarship to study Art (National Diploma of Design in Fine Arts) at St. Martin's School of Art in London. He won the scholarship on the merit of his painting of a fisherman which won 2nd Prize in the Malayan Life national art competition in 1959. He had been a fulltime artist since his return in September 1966. It was one solo after another since his first in 1970 held at the Samat Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, of his batiks and watercolours. That year, 1970, he also exhibited in Indonesia, arguably the first Malaysian to have done so. He was also a co-founder of the Malaysian Watercolour Society, having joined the painting expeditions to Sweden (Simrikshawn to Uppsala) and India (New Delhi to Nainital / Joelikot). However, he could not paint much after suffering a stroke in 2012. Khalil was honored with the exhibition A Continued Dialogue, at Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, in 2004.