In planning the format of this book, it was decided that the chosen art works would be presented under four distinct categories: (1) Place/ Environment / Things; (2) Mythology/ Belief/ Tradition; (3) Society/ The Self/ Memory; (4) Abstraction/ Concept/ The New Real. Each section contains twenty art works that relate to the specific themes and issues that have been worked out. These categories are not intended to be used or read in exclusive terms. They have been selected with the aim of enabling the framing of art works within broad, cognitive categories, which in turn leads to the way we construct and perceive the world, communities and ourselves. They should enhance ways of looking and seeing. It was decided that the arrangement of the works should emphasize a chronological order of presentation, wherever relevant, in order to allow the reader a sense of the actual historical contexts and the times in which the works were produced, thereby revealing as well the peculiar problems faced by each generation of artists in their search for pertinent forms and artistic meanings. By and large, formalistic and stylistic pursuits have dominated our artists' attention. It was only in the late 1980s that post-modernist tendencies appeared within the local art scene in any significantly influential way. Bearing in mind the essentially multi-ethnic and multi-cultural realities of the Malaysian situation, it is only to be expected that the artistic approaches would be diverse and often reflect influences that betrayed the artist's own ethnic background and personal preferences. Yet other artists have borrowed freely from the diverse multi-cultural influences existing in their midst. If the beginnings of the movement had been dominated by the role of Chinese artists, it was because that community had been initially better placed economically and better exposed culturally to accept the new modernist art influences. The emergence of Malay and other indigenous artists as a strong artistic force was only possible during the 1950s and after. The number of Indian artists has remained relatively small even if their contributions have been significant.