056
LITERATURE
Pago-Pago to Gelombang: 40 Years of Latiff Mohidin, Singapore Art Museum, 1994, illustrated on page 170.
An orchid motif, placed at the heart of a sombre landscape constructed with abstract geometric shapes, is also suggestive of a praying hand-gesture. The masterful use of symbolism conjures up a visual retelling scene of solitude and content.
Extracted from an interview between the artist and art historian T.K. Sabapathy recorded in the book Latiff Mohidin – Rimba Series: “If we reflect on it we remember that the first of the Langkawi series developed from the Mindscape compositions. And then the second phase of Mindscape emerged from Langkawi. And then the Gelombang can be traced to the central phase of Mindscape, the phase in which brushstrokes were prominent or important”. It is evident that this 1976 Mindscape etching is a fine example that influenced the development of ‘the first of the Langkawi series’, where the symmetrical shield-like shape forms the fundamental structure of the Langkawi wooden sculptures.
The same work illustrated in the book Pago-Pago to Gelombang: 40 Years of Latiff Mohidin is an edition out of 10 dated 1974; the one on the block is an artist’s proof dated 1976. Acquired directly from the artist, this work has remained in the same private collection for more than three decades.
Abdul Latiff Mohidin is a poet, painter, printmaker and sculptor. He received his education at Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste in Germany, studied printmaking at Atelier La Courriere in France and Pratt Graphic Centre in New York, USA. He received honours and awards such as the Malaysia’s National Literary Prize and the Southeast Asian’s Writer’s Award in 1984. Hailed as a ‘boy wonder’ by the local press when he held his first solo at the Kota Raja Malay School in 1951 at the age of ten, he has come a long way to earn himself the distinction of being one of the leading modern Southeast Asian artists, and today he is regarded as a national treasure. From the monumental and arresting Pago-Pago to the dynamic and perpetual Gelombang, Latiff never fail to surprise us with fresh ideas in every new work.
