What's with a window cleaner that Ibrahim Hussein, later a Datuk, was so gobsmacked by it that he painted at least two versions under the title, Window Cleaner? A bigger work, an oil on canvas measuring 127 x 101.6cm, was shown at Galerie Internationale, New York. The work which can be regarded as an early abstract comes with provenance of having been auctioned at Doyle and Design in New York. When in New York, Ib, as Ibrahim Hussein is popularly known as, was greeted by a phalanx of skyscrapers, something Malaysia did not have until 1978-80, even then few and far in between. So, when staying in one of the glass facades, he marvelled at the window cleaners precariously suspended outside. In 1974, there was even a sex-comedy movie, Confessions Of A Window Cleaner, done very much in the vein of the ‘Carry On' film franchise that carried on for 31 films, between 1958 and 1992. It's been said, even now, that some of Ibrahim Hussein's best works were produced during the 1960s, when he stumbled onto the Pop and Beatnik zeitgeist with the Flower People, the anti-this and anti-that revolution, in London and New York. Datuk Ibrahim Hussein is the epitome genius of Malaysian Art, celebrated internationally by five prominent accolades: 1) Being awarded the world-class Crystal Award (World Economic Forum); 2) Selected with Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali in the Best-of-the-World tripartite exhibition in Kuwait in 1977; 3) First Malaysian taking part in the Venice Biennale (1970); 4) Winning an award in the XVIII Prix International D'Art Contemporain de Monte Carlo (1984); 5) Honoured with the Order of Andres Bello of Venezuela (1993), the Order of Bernardo Higgins (Chile's highest honour to a foreigner, 1996), and the Japan Foundation Cultural Award (1988). At home, he was given a Retrospective at the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur (1986), and bestowed the Anugerah Tokoh Melayu Terbilang (2007) besides being conferred the Datuk title three times. He organised the inaugural Langkawi International Festival of Arts (2000), after setting up his museum and foundation, and organised, with the help of his wife, Datin Sim, the Club Mediterranee Asian Arts Festival in Cherating (Pahang) in 1988 and Bali (Indonesia) in 1987. Ib had his art tutelage at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting, and the Royal Academy in London, and received the double scholarships of Fulbright and John D. Rockefeller II Fund.