작품 상세

The first in dark pinkish hues looks like some fragment relics or statuary clusters and the other with Bangkok written on it, probably heralds the Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) lodged within the precincts of the Grand Palace. They take different approaches, the first after some form of architectural motifs or even vegetative tokens, and the other a realistic cacophony of stupas spiking the sky. These form the repertoire of studies for Latiff Mohidin’s iconic Pago-Pago series inspired by his sensitive interpretations of cultural artefacts, plant and insect life in his peregrinations of Indo-China and even Indonesia. Of Latiff’s pointed motifs, his Thai artists friends, notably Thawan Duchanee, had ribbed, how he was stuck in letter ‘A’… and he reflected on the “balconies of traditional Siamese houses, pointed stupas-pagodas, woven-plaited shapes in handicraft, prows of boats… (Page 182, Latiff Mohidin: L.I.N.E.: From Point To Point). Latiff Mohidin is a national treasure in paint, print (printmaking), bronze (sculpture) and letters (poet, essayist and translator), being fluent in three languages – Malay, English and German). He started as a hobo, where he created the iconic Pago-Pago series (1960-1969), the headlined mega three-month exhibition held at the prestigious Pompidou Centre in Paris in 2018, which was organised by the National Gallery Singapore and Pompidou. Latiff was awarded a major Retrospective at the National Art Gallery Malaysia in December 2012 to June 2013, his second. His art studies were at the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunst in West Berlin. He won the John D. Rockefeller III Fellowship to study at Pratt Institute in New York, and the French scholarship to study printmaking at the Atelier Lacouriere-Frelaut in Paris. He also won 2nd Prize (Graphics) in the 1968 Salon Malaysia. In literature, he won the SEA Write Award twice (1984 and 1986) and the Malaysian Literary Awards from 1972 to 1976, and he was also appointed Guest Writer at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in 1988.