Craftsman seeks to influence aesthetics of Buddha statues

A catalogue by the sculptor. [Photo provided to China Daily]

He has been working on it for the past two years and has made many changes to his style in order to meet the requirements.

So far, Jiang has produced more than 50 Buddha statues, many of them for Buddhists between 20 and 40, an age group that accepts his style of statues, which have elements of contemporary art.

Besides making Buddha statues, Jiang also takes pictures of discarded religious sculptures. Since 2012, Jiang and two friends have been photographing thousands of statues that have been abandoned by their owners either because they are broken or because people have changed their beliefs.

There are many temples or open spaces where these abandoned idols including Buddhas can be found. Many of these idols can also be seen in a cave in the South Putuo Temple.

"I felt like these deities were migrating. They were made by craftsmen and owned by their worshipers. But then they were thrown away and maybe one day they will be picked up by another worshipper. It's quite easy for people to change their beliefs these days," says Jiang.

From the thousands of photos he took, Jiang selected about 400 and put them into a book that he calls Migrating Deities. Though the book has yet to be published, some of the photos have already won him prizes.

Inspired by the discarded idols, Jiang is now working on artworks that portray group images of different divinities.

Jiang also loves traveling and fashion design. Last year, he worked with costume designers to put elements of Buddhist accessories into them.

He describes himself both as an artist and a craftsman. And his cooperation with people in other fields has helped broaden his horizon and improve his Buddha statues.

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