Image size: 22.8 x 20.5 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 (8)’ revisits the dual modes of viewing of the Pago-Pago series: here, in this image, the brushed pigmented surface represents an angular view of mountainous forms, centralized and stacked above one another; in another view, the sharp lines, merging with the initial layer, create a texture resembling the rocky mountains. ‘Guilin (8)’ is a minimal yet graphical approach to capturing the energy of the forms. Although the image is close to an abstraction, it does, at a glance, show symptoms of the stacked or totemic structure from the Pago-Pago series.
