Jaafar Latiff Singaporean, 1937-2007

Jaafar Latiff (b. 1937–2007) established his practice as an abstract artist known for his innovation in the medium of batik. He was a self-taught artist who spent much of his career as an art educator, teaching in institutions such as Baharuddin Vocational Institute, LASALLE College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. He integrated the conventional techniques of batik with his abstract style, creating batik paintings that challenged prevailing ideas of tradition.

Jaafar Latiff’s trailblazing approach invigorated batik painting beyond the pictorial conventions in the 1970s. This exhibition highlights his art between the 1970s and 1990s, tracing his advances in batik as well as adjacent explorations in acrylic painting and computer art which reveal his bold embrace of the modernist ethos to be in search of the new.