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This work under Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal’s Ruang series is subdued, with pastel shades in the sky enveloped by a mellowed orange. The top part merges into a light mauve-pink blanket. A blob of light from the sun is shown withdrawing and subsiding into the background while below it, bands of rainbow spectrums add a magical quality to the scene. The horizon is represented by a thin line with a thin film of azure-blue with the bottom part left off-white. Syed Ahmad Jamal was always enraptured with the natural surroundings with tropical settings around him since young and always opted for the panorama to create an illusion of infinite space.
The only visual artist to have been awarded the National Art Laureate, Syed Ahmad Jamal was an artist in every sense of the work - as painter-sculptor, administrator, academician, writer, critic and activist. He had his art tutelage from the Birmingham School of Architecture, London (1950 to 1951), Chelsea School of Art, London (1951 to 1955), Institute of Education, London University (1955 to 1956), School of Art Institute Chicago (1963 to 1964), the University of Hawaii, Honolulu (1973 to 1974) and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (1974). He had a stint at Specialist Teachers Training Institute (1961 to 1963) and was its principal (1964 to 1972) and Asian Culture Museum Director (1979 to 1983), and was Director of the National Art Gallery from 1983 to 1991. He has won First Prize in the Johor Art Exhibition (1950), Summer Competition from Chelsea School of Art (1954), Federation Art Competition Kuala Lumpur (1962) and the National Bank of Malaysia Mural Competition. For all his contributions to art, he was awarded the Seniman Nagara (National Artist) in 1995.