Image size: 23 x 19.5 cm
Latiff Mohidin, born in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia in 1941 completed his primary education in Singapore. While in Singapore, at an early age, Latiff’s precocity in understanding paintings earned him the nickname, ‘Wonder Boy’. From 1960-1964, Latiff studied art at Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste in Berlin, Germany and did brief residencies in Paris and New York. Inspired by his exploration of Southeast Asia in 1964, Latiff has since produced compelling series of artworks – the result of a synthesis between his European experience and the rediscovery of his homeland. He is also a poet who has published several volumes of poetry. The Guilin series stems from Latiff’s brief sojourn in China. ‘Guilin (5)’ seems to share a kinship with the Pago-Pago series, in particular ‘Plant Life, Thailand’, a representational study of forms that are widely spread and structured, realized before the emergence of the upright totemic structures. Here, a quick outdoor sketch portrays compact, centralized mountainous forms swaying and swelling laterally. enhanced by reverberated strokes.
