Close up and personal

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Jun 15, 2003, Page 19

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum show provides an opportunity to inspect the detailed craftsmanship that makes up the decorations of Baoan Temple. PHOTO COURTESY OF BAOAN TEMPLE

A collection of around 40 photographs -- 76cm by 102cm glossies with super saturated colors, plus a few smaller prints -- form the substance of Photographs by Ko Si-chi: The Beauty of Baoan Temple (柯錫杰攝影展-保安宮之美) exhibition currently showing at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM).

Most of the photographs can best be described as portraits, even though their subjects are wooden statues, such as the 36 guardians of the Baoan Emperor, the presiding deity of the temple.

For anyone who has ever felt bored wondering through the confusion of a Chinese temple with its profusion of second-rate art work, the crowds, smoke and oppressive atmosphere of worship, this show reveals a most unexpected humor and humanism.

This is entirely due to the craftsmanship of the sculptor, Hsu Yan (許嚴), who is neglected in the title of the show and in most of the promotional materials. He began work on them in 1830 and took five years to complete the set.

The fact that the statues have been preserved so well is a testament to the fine management that has made the Baoan Temple one of the finest examples of temple art in Taipei.

The original statue of the Baoan Emperor. PHOTO COURTESY OF BAOAN TEMPLE

The photographs, by one of Taiwan's most respected photographers, Ko Si-chi (柯錫杰), are technically accomplished, but with a couple of exceptions. Two frescos with detail lost to a poorly positioned flash, for example.

But it is hard to see that they serve any purpose other than as a medium for bringing the sculptures to us more clearly than we would be able to see them in the cluttered temple environment. Ko's name might serve as a draw to this show, but it does little else.

The viewer is quickly drawn into the world of heroes and monsters that make up the Baoan Emperor's bodyguard. Vicious monsters who have turned to the service of the beneficent god, ghost eaters, fairies, heavenly generals, all with their marvelous steeds.

One help but suspect that there was an impish gleam in the sculptor's eye when he fashioned the Mountain Moving General (移山大將), riding proudly atop his three-legged heavenly toad. It is moments like these that really make the show.

Demons eagle heads and talons riding dragons while wielding battle hammers, or a ghost-eating demon chewing on the head of a small child add elements of fantasy and even a touch of the macabre.

The guardians are not all cartoonish invention and some of the more mainstream guardians, such as the martial hero Yuefei (岳飛), are pictures of classical dignity.

Large, detailed photos of the roof ornaments are an example in which photography has come to the aid of ancient artists, for in these large prints it becomes possible to appreciate the delicacy of the ceramic work in a way not possible when looking up from the ground.

English are provided for each of the photos, but their utility is somewhat limited by their bizarre grammatical formulations, which are on occasion more amusing than informative.

This is unfortunate, for the background to the fantasy beasts and narrative set pieces of the roof decoration would make interesting reading.

Photographs by Ko Si-chi: The Beauty of Baoan Temple, at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Until Aug. 17