Gelora Rimba

Latiff Mohidin (1941), born in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia completed his primary education in Singapore. While in Singapore, his precocity in understanding paintings at an early age, earned him the nickname, '�Wonder Boy'�. From 1960 to 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 a series of compelling 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. The Rimba series is a body of work that flags Latiff'�s peak: his most passionate, compelling and surging effort that can be adopted as a criterion for evaluating the dynamics of his creative practice. In �'Gelora Rimba'�, where black is the dominant colour, the painting emits a brooding, impenetrable and foreboding aura. The luminous strokes of yellow and red hues which are subdued by the thickening clusters of black seem to reflect Latiff'�s decline in health in 1996 when he suffered psychological repercussions. �'Gelora Rimba'� may very well have sprung from his personal condition.