The life of national cultural icon Ibrahim Hussein will be celebrated in word and paintings from March 13 at the Bangsar Village II in Kuala Lumpur.

NONE Ibrahim - or Ib as he was popularly known - had completed almost all of his autobiography before his death last year. The work was taken up by his daughter Alia and writer Eddin Khoo.

The book , 'IB: A Life' , will be launched on March 13.

"He pieced his own life together which led to the writing of this book and it is a craft of his legacy," Khoo told a press conference today.

The book tells of Ibrahim's early endeavours and how he coped with blindness in one eye. It records high points of his life, including a meeting with then prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein and his entire cabinet.

"The autobiography was 90 percent close to completion before his death and I thought I was responsible to pursue what he had started," said his wife Sim, who was present alongside Alia.

NONE A Bahasa Malaysia version of the book will be available in the coming months.

In conjunction with the launch, Ibrahim's paintings - of his stay in China and his latest works - will be on display at Bangsar Village II from March 14 to April 4.

Explaining the importance of the exhibition, Sim said this is the first exhibition of his work since 1986.

Ibrahim was internationally acknowledged as one of Malaysia's most influential artists, but Sim noted that he is not well known among young Malaysians in particular.

NONE Shortly after the May 13, 1969 racial riots, his painting of a defaced Malaysian flag landed him in hot water, prompting Razak's intervention.

According to an interview with the Kakiseni.com website in 2002, Ibrahim said that - despite the political nature of his paintings - he believed that art transcends politics.

His works are therefore a reflection of the realities, rather than a political statement.