작품 상세

‘Pago Pago’ is a term coined by Malaysian artist-poet Latiff Mohidin during the late 1950s to describe the cosmopolitan yet regionally rooted spirit with which he made art. Pago-Pago traces a formative period of Latiff’s practice as he journeyed across Europe and Southeast Asia. The historical backdrop of the series started in the early 1960s, when Latiff began his formal art education at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in West Berlin. “Pago-Pago” emerged from the word “pagoden“, which was the source of his inspiration when he encountered a series of Thai and Khmer relics resembling pagoda forms at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, located in Dahlem, in 1961. This piece is strong, dramatic, orderly and precise in terms of brushwork and composition. This series explores the relationship between shapes, figures, colours, balance, perception and the mind of the artist. The resulting abstract art is the representation of the artist’s contemplating and dedication to this piece of art. Latiff’s works bear a distinctively cosmopolitan outlook in terms of the successful development of a modern abstract visual language and a sustained exploration of world art and literature. An avid traveller, the artist’s travels, specifically to Ubud, Bali inspired this unique monochrome watercolour piece, executed meticulously.