A selection of acrylic paintings by local artist, Michael Lau. First seen in Island East at "A Taste for Art Festival" in 1996, and later chosen for permanent display in Cornwall House.

The large mural (12.5 x 9m) in Dorset House complements the architectural style of the building. The modular patterns in hand made tiles, manufactured in North Wales, are arranged to avoid any conflict with the diagonal line made by the adjacent escalator. The use of stainless steel inserts echoes the building plan and helps control the tile layers in a consistent design over such a large area.

In Devon House there is one large mural (8 x 10m) and two smaller  ones (4 x 5m) and here, the tiles were hand made in a Spanish workshop. The two smaller works were taken and developed from the larger one to create a unity in design, with each tile again being hand fired with no two tiles being alike.

The Devon House murals took 12 months to create while the large  work in Dorset House was completed in 18 months.

Michel Santry studied life drawing and painting and worked in an architect's office as a draughtsman before working in the theatre as a scenic artist on 35 stage productions, 2 feature films, and at ABC's television design department. He has completed about 250  artwork commissions in all materials and techniques for about 90  clients, on many types of projects both in Australia and overseas.

Facing the taxi stand between Devon and Dorset House, Shan Shui (literally meaning "mountain and water") is created by the internationally renowned American sculptor, Danny Lane.

Shan Shui is made of two ten-ton sculptures of ratified low iron float glass distinguished by its extremely transparent nature - ten times more transparent and clearer than any ordinary window glass. The larger piece measures 3.5 metres high, 2 metres wide and is 0.5 metre thick. The smaller piece measures 3 metres high. Through the soothing green luminosity, water flows in an unbroken cycle, symbolising perfect karma.

Lane's understanding of context, direct use and combination of  contradictory materials such as metal, glass and wood, has established him as a key figure within the international art and design arena.

This monumental, six metres high sculpture weighing 3 tons, shows two entwined figures, and was originally inspired by the international communication of dance, a universally recognised symbol of harmony.  This is expressed in the flowing male and female forms and in the sculpture's flat steel sections, which make reference to the Chinese ribbon dance.

Deeply influenced by Jung and Nietzsches' philosophies, Jones demonstrates that the creation of art depends on artists merging the male and female elements of their natures. Thus the figures melt into one another.

Allen Jones is one of Britain's most distinguished artists, with  paintings and sculptures in the Tate Gallery and the Victoria &  Albert Museum in London; the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC; the Museum of 20th Century Art in Vienna; and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

He was elected a Royal Academician in 1986, and a Trustee of the  British Museum in 1990.

One of the well kept secrets of Island East is the stunning art collection which adorns the walls of the glamorous Chinese and  Western dining rooms, member's bar, private banqueting and conference  halls of Butterfield's private members' club in Dorset House.

More than 400 different pieces, including originals and modern  copies of paintings and prints dating from the late seventeenth  century through to the 1930's, make this one of the largest art  collections in Asia. The Club's interior décor provides a perfect  setting for this lovingly amassed collection. Borrowing heavily from the genre known as Art Deco, the materials, craftsmanship and  minute attention to detail, together evoke an inviting ambience  of pre-war glamour.

One of the many treasures at Butterfield's is a collection of 32  hand-coloured, lithograph prints of set and costume designs by Pablo Picasso for the Spanish ballet Le Tricorne, first performed by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Madrid in 1919. This complete portfolio hangs in the Picasso Suite, a private dining room on the third floor.