Illustration 12 : Drupadi (1970) same title of Boats, 1962, (Illustration 13) he studies the decorative elements that appear in the Bangau and Okok motifs.of the fishermen’s boats. The latter emphasizes linear and flat shapes, and is exclusively two-dimensional, yet he successfully records the decorative elements of Awan Larat (the curves and twists of clouds) that always appears in Malay wood-carving. While Nik Zainal draws the wood-carving in a two dimensional format, Ruzaika Omar Basree, a minimalist, uses the actual wood carving from traditional houses in the East Coast. Her work, neither paintings nor sculptures, concerns itself with traditional image making and occupies an intermediate dimension between two dimensional and three- dimensional mediums. Her Siri Dungun Jendela Terbuka (Dungun Series-Open Window, 1978) (Illustration 14) shows deliberate Malayness combining both shape and forms of wood-carving taken from old Malay houses, and a painted fragment of a hilly landscape viewed through aMoberN MaLaysian ArT: MANIFESTATION OF MALAY Form AND CONTENT half opened window. According to Redza Piyadasa the use of the assemblage technique of indigenous elements and pictorial depth and illusion are heightened through her window series. Her work evokes the feelings and recalls vivid experiences of someone who has visited and looked out through the traditional Malay rural houses. Syed Ahmad Jamal and Ismail Zain are two Malaysian abstract expressionists who are concerned with their own cultural heritage. According to Ismail Zain’s opinion in Contemporary Artists of Malaysia by Dolores Wharton there is a great search for national symbols such as batiks. Towards the end of the 60s, Ismail Zain revealed his interest in Illustration 13 : Boats Illustration 14: Siri (1962) Dungun - Jendela Terbuka (1978) ~ local cultural form by capturing the essence of the indigenous quality of surface decoration. Both works of his entitled Surface Painting, 1970, (Illustration 15) and Ku Bunuh Cintaku (I Kill My Love, 1970) (Illustration 16) show his love of surface decoration that is almost like textile texture and is achieved by using a spray-gun. The elimination of all gestural qualities from these works and a harmonious application of very subtle colour variations evoke the essence of Malay elegance in 44