001

An ink on paper work with similar features is titled Kelantan Harlequin (1968) on Wak Long, regarded as one of the two major harlequins or clowns in the Kelantan wayang kulit (shadow play). Here, stains of brown red litter the central image funnelling down with a chequered blue pattern on the bottom half. It looks more like a wayang kulit cut-out board than any human form, and with movement suggested by the three-tiered backdrop with slanting lines.

Abdul Latiff Mohidin is known for his art of painting, printmaking and sculptures as well as his poetry and books on aesthetics. He graduated from the German academy, DAAD (Deutscher Akademescher AustGuschdientst) in Bonn 1960. He also took up printmaking courses at the Atelier La Courrier in Paris and the Pratt Institute in New York in 1969. His first major art prize was the 2nd Prize (Graphic) in the 1968 Salon Malaysia. As a writer, he won the Malaysian Literary Awards from 1972 to 1976, the coveted South East Asian Writers Award in Bangkok in 1984, and the National Literary Award in 1984 and 1986. His first solo exhibition at the age of 10 at the Kota Raya Malay School in 1951 earned him the title of ‘boy wonder’ by the local press. He is now regarded as a national treasure and has become one of the leading modern artists in Southeast Asia.