Pago-Pago, Bangkok (2)

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. In �'Pago-Pago, Bangkok (2)'�, Latiff reinforces the fixed structure by doubling, trebling the number of strokes, so that the outer limits are broadened with its dimensions thickened. Each tapering unit is enlivened further by triangular shapes derived from his study of bamboo shoots suggesting that the architecture appears as quivering in space. Thus the composition suggests the geometry of architecture is �transformative� or in constant growth. The Pago-pago series is perceived as a �grand synthesis� -� representing the fusion of traditional Malay and European abstract and the result of Latiff'�s German experiment and the rediscovery of his homeland.