Two ordinary beach stones become precious stones when embellished with artist extraordinaire Datuk Ibrahim Hussein’s trademark strokes and parallel lines. One takes on more anthromorphic forms with tentacular plant-like clusters and the other is more a coalescence  of human forms. They were both dated November 1998, the year Ib, as the artist is popularly known as, finally established his museum-in-the-rainforest under the shadow of Gunung Manchingchang and with cavorting pink dolphins in the Andaman Sea. Apart from beach stones, Ib had also painted on a variety of media like wooden stumps, head caps, t-shirts, designer tie, porcelainware, Shoei fibreglass crash helmets and even serviettes. With awards like the Crystal Award, participation in the hugely prestigious Venice Biennale in 1970, what with a tripartite exhibition in Kuwait in 1977 with Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, Datuk Ibrahim Hussein is incontrovertibly Malaysia’s most internationally iconic artist. Tutelage at Byam Shaw followed by the Royal Academy in London burnished his credentials like no other. Malaysia’s National Art Gallery accorded Ib a Retrospective, followed with great fanfare, in 1986. A triple Datuk and awards such as the Anugerah Tokoh Terbilang (2007), the Japan Foundation Cultural Award (1988), the Order of Andres Bello of Venezuela (1993) and the Order of Bernardo O’ Higgins of Chile (1996) made him an artist extraordinaire. Ib was also a visionary, setting up the Ibrahim Museum and Cultural Foundation in Langkawi in 2000 and celebrated it with the Langkawi International Festival of Arts. He also organised the Club Mediterranee Asian Arts Festival in Cherating (Pahang) and Bali.