text by Chia Chi Jason Wang
The term "Lohan" in Chinese is a simplified translation of "arhats" from Sanskrit, formerly also translated as "Yingzhen." Lohans were disciples of Shakamuni Buddha. It was said that before his death, the Buddha exhorted them not to attain nirvana by disseminating buddhahood in the human realm, so that they could sow the field of merit for the common people and receive obeisance from the adherents.
In Theravada Buddhism, Lohan was the highest accomplisher who had achieved the realization of the nonexistence of personal self and had eliminated the "klesha" obscurations (literally "disturbing emotions"). While in Mahayana Buddhism, the belief is somewhat different. Lohan represented the enlightenment for self only; Bodhisattva was the Enlightenment for others; and only the Buddha attained the perfect enlightenment and accomplishment. In contrast with Buddha and Bodhisattva, Lohan had lived in the human world and were closer to the believers--therefore, widely worshipped.
Lohan in its original Sanskrit language also respectively meant one who had been free from emotional troubles and were "worthy of obeisance and respect;" one who had "slain" their greed, anger and delusion and were no longer troubled by the present thoughts; one who had "nothing else to learn," because they had attained the enlightenment; and one who was "no longer trapped in the cycle of rebirth and redeath" because they had attained nirvana.
While the devotees in Chinese Buddhism have worshipped the images of Buddha and Bodhisattva as individual deities, Lohans on the other hand tend to appear in plural number. Since the Song dynasty, the more popular belief of 18 Lohans has replaced that of 16. Besides the 18 Lohan, there was also the legend of five hundred Lohans. Nevertheless, throughout the history of art or Buddhism, the term "Lohan" as a goal or stage of spiritual enlightenment has never come with a fixed, canonized icon. The stereotypical imagery of Lohans as commonly projected since the Five Dynasties has emphasized more in the grotesque or foreign looking of their appearances and skeletal structures. Such imagery tends to express Lohans inhabiting in an archaic, pure, peaceful and unrestrained space and the Lohan has often been represented as composed, wise, carefree, and enlightened high monk. Scarcely changed, this tradition prevails till today, still seen in a great majority of ink paintings and sculptural works of Buddhist and Daoist themes.
The icons of 18 Lohans that J.C. Kuo has represented are very different from those already seen in the history of art. Not only so, the kind of humanity and social contents he has bestowed on the Loahns is equally distinct from the common understanding and knowledge of Buddhism. From J.C. Kuo's point of view, what he has depicted are "Lohans in the Human Realm," emphasizing their secular aspect, especially how they cultivate life, work according to their specialties, and eventually become those who establish self-value. As for those original transcending qualities of what a Lohan should be, as elaborated above, they are not in the artist's major intention to convey. Instead, Kuo's Lohans are more often common people who are liable to value confusion. Through his personal, free translation, the Lohans are no longer otherworldly or ascetic, but become easily tempted and lost in earthly value. They will not be able to elevate themselves and form their own value of life, until they go through a painstaking process of self-meditation and self-balance. Such Lohans are more like ordinary people. Through the series of "18 Lohans," J.C. Kuo has once again laid out his personal observation of Taiwan's contemporary society.
J.C. Kuo has employed similar means or strategy earlier in his "Eight Generals" (1993) series. However, the "Eight Generals" was taken as an analogy to represent various social strata and the minority peoples in Taiwan society, such as scholars, peasants, workers, merchants, veteran soldiers, and indigenous peoples. J.C. Kuo used those to demonstrate the real social forces in Taiwan. What he meant to critique was how the politically privileged and the vested interests had usurped the rights of the inferior and the underprivileged, and thus created social and economic injustice.
By all appearance, the "18 Lohans" series, serving as another sorted typology for all walks of life in Taiwan, may seem similar to the "Eight Generals" series. Nonetheless, the issues dealt with and the contents expressed distinctively vary. Comparatively speaking, by taking the paradigmatic image of "18 Lohans" as a figurative locution, J.C. Kuo is more focused in bringing up the distortion of humanity and the bankruptcy of moral value in contemporary Taiwan. Moreover, J.C. Kuo has changed his tone from heavy criticism and relentless sarcasm to a mellower concern for ultimate human value and social moral order.
Through the paradigmatic analogy of "18 Lohans," J.C. Kuo obviously taking the Taiwanese people as his subject of representation, with the attempt to reveal the expectable, positive value and factors in the course of Taiwan's social development. Unlike the merciless satire and direct criticism seen in his earlier styles, the series of "18 Lohans" has grown softer and gentler in terms of its atmosphere, although stylistically and verbally it remains unyielding and stunning as usual.
As J.C. Kuo has acknowledged, the "18 Lohan" series intends to represent the cycle of life, deals with the essential value of human living, and questions the meaning of human existence. Facing the external environments, such as Taiwan's social reality, how do people form their self value, establish self identities, confront all kinds of fluctuations and changes in society or life, and eventually realize the significance of human existence in the current social, moral cosmos?
Taiwan as it is has recently turned into a disoriented society, disordered and confused. The unhappy phenomena witnessed by the majority include political anarchy, media spectacle, ethnic conflicts, social insecurity, and distortion of human value. Instead of resuming his usual tone of fierce censure, J.C. Kuo has chosen to heighten senses of calmness, self-restraint, and stablization, through the series of "18 Lohans," deliberately conveying the pertinence of self-motivated morality and self-disciplined value here and now.
Stylistically speaking, J.C. Kuo continues to employ the techniques of collage and juxtaposition in a lot of places. Through these techniques, he has expressed his personal view on the society of Taiwan. By using collage and juxtaposition, J.C. Kuo transplants various formal media, such as newspaper, printed rubbings of ancient calligraphy, traditional Taiwanese quilt with floral patterns, and all kinds of juxtaposed objects or picturesque motifs as drawn by the artist himself. The use of these heterogeneous media and pictorial patterns is not simply for the purpose of artistic decoration, which instead serves as cultural signifier and carries strong metaphorical meaning, although in most of J.C. Kuo's paintings, they may seem ambiguous, uneasy to decipher, even difficult to understand.
J.C. Kuo has frequently taken the advantage of using collage and juxtaposition to distinguish the diachronic and synchronic contrasts between the old and the new, the traditional and the contemporary, Taiwan and China, East and West. Through the representation of these opposite but co-existing concepts, Kuo's paintings present a strong visual impact close to mosaic. Representing Taiwan culture this way, he is also insinuating that the society of Taiwan indeed has a similar character not unlike collage and patchwork. As seen from the appearance, the culture of Taiwan seems colorful, boisterous and eye-catching; however, deep down inside, there is an obviously tumultuous and superficial quality which reflects Taiwan as a transplanted society.
In the "18 Lohans" series, J.C. Kuo also deliberately creates an effect of flat surface, applying large color fields in the paintings, in addition to his typical black outlines, thick and close to stripes, which have been utilized to configure the contours of the human figures and objects. Thus, by incorporating painting skills and juxtaposing other media to form a three-dimensional, sculptural effect, Kuo has achieved a kind of painting that is between two-dimensional and three-dimensional.
In terms of formal expression, J.C. Kuo's "18 Lohan" series exhibits a common pictorial quality. That is, the Lohan in question is situated in the center of the picture plane, along with the pendants or accompanied objects that insinuate the type of role or the social significance embodied by the Lohan, such as the wooden horse, television, meadow, colorful geographical jigsaw puzzle, translucent glass door, crystal ball and flowery mat, computer sidepack, balloon, etc. All are depicted in painterly brushes, with rich nuances and highly colorful. As for the backgrounds behind the Lohans, Kuo has applied a relatively diversified and complex technique, adding heterogeneously more decorative style to enhance the textures and visual richness of these paintings.
J.C. Kuo consciously knows that there has not been a concrete and consistent iconographic system particularly established for the 18 Lohans in the history of art. Also, the names of the Lohans as translated from Sanskrit were not only too abstract but hard to remember; therefore, it was doomed that most people, including artists, could only form a vague impression of their images. Since the Five Dynasties and the Song dynasty, the most recognizable of the 18 Lohans had been the Taming Dragon and the Taming Tiger Lohans. Both were later additions to the originally 16. Consequently, the two Lohans even became representatives of all the Lohans, because each had been flanked by the easily remembered dragon or tiger. In order to fully visualize and make the viewer easily remember, J.C. Kuo follows the same iconic strategy and creates his own secular pantheon of 18 Lohans.
In order to project his own Lohans, J.C. Kuo invites his friends to pose for some of the paintings. Taking the appearances of these friends, Kuo does not mean that those people represent or live up to the Lohan paradigm. Rather, Kuo only takes them as examples for the kind of experiences they have lived, the kind of role they have played, or simply the unusual physical characteristics of their appearances. Through his personal visual translation, those images become representative of contemporary "model types" of the Taiwanese people, rather than "portraits" of the Lohans. Thus, Kuo's projected Lohans can be understood as typifications of differentiated dimensions of human affairs and social value, through which the artist is also laying out the positive aspects of living in contemporary Taiwan.
J.C. Kuo intends to install this solo exhibition of his by showing the painting entitled "18 Lohans" as the starting one, which actually depicts the Lohans before entering the human world. The piece will be followed by the 18 pieces that respectively pictures the image of each Lohan, representing the artist's observation of Taiwan's contemporary social exemplars. These 18 Taiwanese secular Lohans have played their roles either as a character in life or as a social type in terms of their career status or profession. Finally, Kuo uses an even bigger painting titled "18 Lohans-1" to conclude his story. In this piece, the secular human Lohans are accumulated together to pose again in the panoramic mixture of landscape and cityscape. By installing the works in such a manner and formal structure, J.C. Kuo is metaphorically indicating the worldly life as a cyclical process at the same time.
Observing closely Kuo's Lohans, the viewer is hard to perceive much quality of ultimate enlightenment or nirvana. Those Lohans do not look like immersed in an eternal state of meditations. On the contrary, it is as if the image of the Lohan has been captured as a frozen frame, which is a snapshot in the passages of life. By means of this artistic use of frozen frame, J.C. Kuo has unveiled the living expectation or even internal desire for life of each Lohan. They have been depicted as Lohans because the artist has seen in them or through them the value worthy of pursuit that contains positive meaning. As a matter of fact, Kuo's stories of 18 Lohans are merely parables. The so-called value and meaning of human existence await people to explore and establish by themselves. Kuo's model of Lohan is by no means monastically ascetic; rather, what he aims for is a paradigmatic expectation that is open for interpretations and is oriented to the context of contemporary Taiwan and its culture. To Kuo, it seems that Lohan is more a value paradigm, which is internally self-made and cannot be shaped by external moral or legal codes alone.
J.C. Kuo's "18 Lohans" series has incorporated his personal observation of Taiwan's all walks of life. In the works, he reflects the common living value shared by the majority, including the yearnings for family bliss ("Lohan-15"), fortune ("Lohan-2"), longevity ("Lohan-16"), and marital happiness ("Lohan-11"). Secondly, J.C. Kuo has also taken several social identities or status symbols as his examples, expressing his expectation for Taiwan to establish new value. For instances, through the image of the "political Lohan" ("Lohan-1"), Kuo expects to see more self-disciplines and sincerities in politicians, rather than opportunitism and hypocrisy. In "movement Lohan" ("Lohan-4"), he explores the meaning of campaign mobilization and social movement; through this painting, he also touches upon the ambivalent relation between media exposure and social mobilization, questioning the possibility of self-governance, self-restraint and independent thinking of the self. In "computer Lohan" ("Lohan-7"), one who carries a sidepack with computer inside, Kuo means to encourage the thinking whether, in the internet times, such Lohan is able to enhance better communications for human society by combining the new technology with the humanities. In "labor Lohan" ("Lohan-9"), the artist depicts the Lohan in the image of a laborer who carries a sack of burden on his back; in the background, also painted is an image of woman lying erotically in a huge wine glass. Through the portrayal of this peculiar Lohan, J.C. Kuo seems to project his sympathy toward the labor class. This is a Lohan who always has to juggle between providing for the family and liberating personal desire. In "educator Lohan" ("Lohan-17"), Kuo paints the Lohan beneath a big tree, which has been a classical metaphor signifying that the process of education is similar to that of cultivating a tree. Kuo lets the Lohan symbolically pour a jug of water into the clear stream and shows the schoolboys jump into the cascade to enjoy the fresh stream. Such metaphor seems to bring forth another great expectation for Taiwan's future by highlighting the importance of education. And in "regulation Lohan" ("Lohan-18"), J.C. Kuo depicts the image of his friend who has served as a military judge for a long time. Interesting enough, the artist applies the stamped characters, numbers or alphabets all over his clothes as well as the direction he has pointed, to signify linguistic, legal, moral, social and political codes of all kinds. Again, J.C. Kuo is aiming for a better Taiwan society that can establish better government and more human oriented systems.
J.C. Kuo also borrows the imagery of trumpet and balloon to accompany one of his Lohan ("Lohan-8"), suggesting how a Lohan should act in such severe reality. Bombarded by flooding noises, voices and sounds, the Lohan sits on top of a rolling balloon. Given such awkward situation, such as Taiwan's political and social condition, how does the Lohan manage to remain calm, balanced, unaffected, yet always on the alert? Metaphorically, Kuo has meant to use this "Lohan on the balance" as a representation of most of Taiwanese merchants, especially those who have to move to and fro across the Taiwan Straits. Moreover, the balloon can also be interpreted as a metaphorical image hinting the common situation shared by the majority of people on Taiwan, who have been torn between the political bipartisan struggles within Taiwan as well as the bitter confrontation between the two regimes in Taiwan and the Mainland China. By contrast, J.C. Kuo produces another image of Lohan ("Lohan-12"), wearing a formal suit and resting under a tree. This Lohan seems to have made out his personal value and attained some kind of enlightenment.
The rest of J.C. Kuo's 18 Lohans do not represent particular professional or social identities. Through them, the viewer is able to see different kinds of attitudes or value towards life. Seemingly dangling on the edge of social reality, one of them has chosen to isolate indoors by keeping only to himself. Indeed, he can be termed as "isolation Lohan" ("Lohan-14"). Similarly, another Lohan takes television as his entire world, as if he has been living in a reclusive garden. As a type, he may be addressed as "TV Lohan" ("Lohan-10"). However, could a Lohan attain true enlightenment through the mass media as broadcast through TV? There remain a lot of doubts and questions. Still, there is another Lohan reflecting the type of character that is more sincere and more pure-minded by nature. Such Lohan enjoys life and the surrounding landscape more easily than the others. Probably he can be titled as "arcadia Lohan" ("Lohan-6"). There is also the type which can be called the "illusion Lohan" ("Lohan-13"), who has spent most of his time weaving his dreams. J.C. Kuo uses the image of snowball to insinuate the imaginary quality of this type of character. Or another type is one who has been roaming around the world. He is very sensitive about what has happened around the globe and is very susceptible to the information spread by the media. Kuo has applied various color fields like unfinished jigsaw puzzle about this Lohan ("Lohan-5"), forming an impression of a confusing geography, perhaps a transformed world atlas, perhaps the scattered media messages hard to be pieced together, or the reflection of the Lohan's psychological bewilderment of the contemporary world. All of these convey a certain openness. Ultimately, this phenomenon also reflects the current situation of Taiwan.
Furthermore, J.C. Kuo also adds the two symbolic characters, Mr. X and Ms. Y, which he has created earlier in his other works into this iconography of 18 Lohans. Elevated as Lohans, Mr. X and Ms. Y can indeed be interpreted as "variable Lohans" ("Lohan-3"). Since both of them represent an open discourse, Kuo has used their image to suggest that Taiwan is a state that is intertwined by opportunities, hopes, crises and chaos.
In the end, J.C. Kuo finishes with a large scale painting titled "18 Lohans-1," in which he congregates all of the 18 Lohans again in this single work and depicts them as they have been living in the human world. It is worth noting that Kuo has situated the "variable Lohans" in the prominent central area. On the right, Kuo paints an obvious area of zebra stripes, making out the fact that Taiwan in terms of its historical and contemporary situation has come to a critical crossroad. The most curious is that J.C. Kuo has planted a tiny grain of seed resting on the crossroad, which provokes infinite imagination.
If this grain of seed can be read as a symbol of never-ending life, so can Kuo's Lohans be interpreted as hopes for Taiwan. Both the seed and the Lohans represent the artist's great expectation for contemporary Taiwan and its future to come. All in all, the grain of seed and the Lohans are merely parables, and the real concern in the mind of J.C. Kuo is Taiwan and its people...
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