Artist Profile: Muid Latif

By Kevin Yeoh  •  30 Aug 2009 in Design

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Muid Latif is no stranger to the digital art world. Cooking up digital art and design since 1997, Muid’s Digital Malaya Project (DMP) has seen love from fans in Jakarta, Singapore, Bangkok and even Germany. He’s worked on projects from Puteri Gunung Ledang The Musical, The Angkasawanâ„¢ interactive project, and as a Creative Common Malaysia board member and activist he promotes Creative Commons public licenses and awareness. The boy’s got it goin’ on.

What kind of crazy creative stuff did you do as a kid?
I built robots out manila card and played with Lego. I would also use cassette casings to build houses for my Lego figures. It was fun!

Let’s talk about Digital Malaya Project.
Digital Malaya Project (DMP) was formed in 2001 and was a personal portfolio and a micro website to introduce Ismail Zain, The Father of Malaysian Digital Art. Digital Malaya became a web portal that introduces local creative talents later.

Tell us what major projects DMP has embarked on?
Originally, the group was formed together with Fayrus Effendy and Shieko. Since then we’ve began to experiment with videos. ‘Rebirth & Aligned’ was nominated for a Germany Web Cuts 2006 Awards. We released a PDF magazine called MekarMara which has been featured in Computer Arts (UK) magazine and we’re quite lucky to be selected as official media supporter to Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA) 2008. That Malaysians have been selected is a breakthrough for us.

Which other artists keep you real?
Malaysians art gurus like Ibrahim Hussein, Syed Ahmad Jamal, Ismail Zain, the late Yasmin Ahmad and Paul Arden. I adore work by Shieko, Yazid, and international design gurus like Joshua Davis, Mike Young, Drew Europeo, Tony Ariawan, Mehdi Saeedi and Adhemas.

What’s the coolest thing you own?
3 racks of Transformers G1-G3 and comic collection that dates back to the early 90s – lots of X-Men, Green Lantern and The Avengers.

What music represents your work?
Radiohead is definitely a big influence and has inspired me creatively. Then there’s also Foo Fighters, Madlib, Jamiroquai, Hed Kandi, Jill Scott, Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelt and John Coltrane.

What’s the worst that could happen on a project?
I got approached by a local NGO to do a small creative campaign but withdrew as they objected to every creative ideas I presented even though it was done with no budget and free of charge. I also built interactive kiosks for a ministry department; we delivered last November and still haven’t been paid. These kind of things definitely weaken the growth of our local creative economy. It’s frustrating.

How do you plan on ending the year?
Working on experimental artwork and getting ready for an exhibition in Penang Museum next year.

Eyes on Muid Latif at www.moedlatif.com and www.digitalmalaya.com.