Image size: 15.1 x 13.8 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. ‘Ein Knabe (A Boy) Berlin’ was produced in the midst of Latiff’s four-year programme in Berlin, where he studied conventional methods for representation involving the study of the human figure and still-life drawing as well as exploring process-based conceptual exercises. Executed swiftly and fluidly in ink and brush, the figure, bare chested and draped with a chequered sarong from waist to shin, is seated on the ground with legs pulled close to his chest. The figurative drawing is symbolical of Latiff’s displacement – a depiction of an Asian living in a European land.
