White Temple artist upset by pose of Chinese model

[DM07]

Not my cup of tea, but the pics look quiet nice!

But with most artists, also here: so full of themselves!

[northernphil]

There is a parade of shops opposite the temple ,won't be long before a Chinese Restaurant appears there. I know someone who wouldn't like that much.

[HooHaa]

looks more to me like the "artist" is simply taking the opportunity for self promotion.

[MrBrilliant]

I could understand it if the model was topless or in a bikini. Maybe they should go back and do some topless and bikini shots just to really upset this fool. These pics are really very tasteful and compliment his work nicely but I think it's down to envy that someone else did it before him.

I recall him whining, attention seeking, fundraising declaring a while back that the temple was on the brink of collapse after an earthquake. That didn't happen.....

Isn't this 'temple' more of a tourist trap/money mill than a venerated place of worship?

Edited September 16, 2015 by MrBrilliant

[landslide]

While I didn't see anything wrong with the photos I saw, I question whether anyone ought to use private property for a commercial photo-shoot without the owner's permission. I'm not an artist by any means but can somewhat understand an artist owner being irritated at how images of his creation are used by others (especially if for profit). And I suppose the owner/artist is already a bit sensitive about some Chinese visitors given the press about it in the last year.

The photographer DID ask permission prior to the shoot. The artist gave his permission over the phone, since he was not on the property at the time.

[Tony125]

Why not put a sign up outside the temple, saying "No Dogs, No Chinese"

no farang would be better

I think MESmith is being a little whimsical. That phrase is used in the 1972 Bruce Lee movie where the character he plays is denied entance to a park in Japanese controled Shanghai See referance below.

Fist of Fury, also known as The Chinese Connection in the United States, is a 1972 Hong Kong martial arts filmdirected by Lo Wei, starring Bruce Lee

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist_of_Fury

[AnnieT]

It appears to me the problem is not the model.

Sure, Apart from him, who actually cares? Fingers of one hand, counting his Mom and sisters.

[AnnieT]

I could understand it if the model was topless or in a bikini. Maybe they should go back and do some topless and bikini shots just to really upset this fool. These pics are really very tasteful and compliment his work nicely but I think it's down to envy that someone else did it before him.

I recall him whining, attention seeking, fundraising declaring a while back that the temple was on the brink of collapse after an earthquake. That didn't happen.....

Isn't this 'temple' more of a tourist trap/money mill than a venerated place of worship?

Isn't everything in Thailand?

[AnnieT]

Why not put a sign up outside the temple, saying "No Dogs, No Chinese"

Like what we can read in some thai Wat ; here in a Chiang Mai wat ;

Bouddhits are really misogynous , women-hater

Real buddhists aren't Actually Thais aren't in general, judhing from the widespread practice among men of having one or more mia-noi's.

Not women-haters, just seriously behind the times. As in so many things.

Edited September 16, 2015 by AnnieT

[elgordo38]

"Chalermchai said yesterday there is one particular photo he wouldn’t have allowed."

Which one?

The published photo is quite beautiful. So are most of the shots on Coconuts' site,

according to The Sun Coconuts the Temple artist said :

“There was one photo when she looks like a mother of a white snake! Crawling everywhere! That photo is ugly! So ugly!” Chalermchai said. “If I was there I wouldn’t have allowed that shot.”

and then:

Chalermchai said he isn’t being obstructive

well, how about letting other people do the art they want?

Artist are a temperamental lot at best. It's because they are striving for perfection but just seem to fall short in their mind anyways.

[Jeremy50]

Ghastly. It makes rococo look subdued.

[richard_smith237]

I can understand it if any of the photo's were in poor taste. However, only one of the photo's is potentially questionable (the one where the Chinese lady is framed by the Gold Leaf potentially depicting her as a deity instead of the statue she's blocking - see below).

But, that takes a big stretch of the imagination. It appears as though this artist simply has a dislike for the Chinese given recent 'toilet' events.

Its also possible / probable? that the Photographer had not requested permission to take professional photos - Again somewhat of a faux-pax.

Additionally, to create such art someone is perhaps a little 'whacky' in the first place - it wouldn't take much to upset someone a little whacky and highly strung.

All in all, not a big deal - nice photos - Good publicity for the Temple and Artist - but then again, any publicity is good publicity.... isn't it ?

Edited September 16, 2015 by richard_smith237

[mikemac]

Good photos ! The model really did suit the surroundings.

I visited the temple when I lived in CR years ago, it really is worth a look. Photographers' paradise.

Yes, good photos and tasteful but a hideous place. Thai Buddhist version of tiger balm gardens.

I Googled "tiger balm gardens" and I agree with you, the White Temple is the Thai version, if not quite as colorful.

[AnnieT]

I can understand it if any of the photo's were in poor taste. However, only one of the photo's is potentially questionable (the one where the Chinese lady is framed by the Gold Leaf potentially depicting her as a deity instead of the statue she's blocking - see below).

But, that takes a big stretch of the imagination. It appears as though this artist simply has a dislike for the Chinese given recent 'toilet' events.

Its also possible / probable? that the Photographer had not requested permission to take professional photos - Again somewhat of a faux-pax.

Additionally, to create such art someone is perhaps a little 'whacky' in the first place - it wouldn't take much to upset someone a little whacky and highly strung.

All in all, not a big deal - nice photos - Good publicity for the Temple and Artist - but then again, any publicity is good publicity.... isn't it ?

Well, it's also possible that the author believes that Thai Buddhism is the only really authentic buddhism and therefore only a Thai would have been appropriate as an object to be photographed in the temple grounds. A Thai like himself. Perhaps a Thai model would have been better too. Preferably not a woman.

The real shame for buddhism is that people don't understand the real reason for the sexist woman-phobia. If they did they'd be too embarrassed to make any comment at all.

[Yann55]

Quote "There's a problem! Our temple always has a problem!," said the outspoken artist of the White Temple in Chiang Rai.

I wonder what problem that might be. Hypocrisy ? sanctimoniousness ?

[Nice Boyd]

White Temple is Beautiful,but this guy is Over the Top...

[Yann55]

I can understand it if any of the photo's were in poor taste. However, only one of the photo's is potentially questionable (the one where the Chinese lady is framed by the Gold Leaf potentially depicting her as a deity instead of the statue she's blocking - see below).

But, that takes a big stretch of the imagination. It appears as though this artist simply has a dislike for the Chinese given recent 'toilet' events.

Its also possible / probable? that the Photographer had not requested permission to take professional photos - Again somewhat of a faux-pax.

Additionally, to create such art someone is perhaps a little 'whacky' in the first place - it wouldn't take much to upset someone a little whacky and highly strung.

All in all, not a big deal - nice photos - Good publicity for the Temple and Artist - but then again, any publicity is good publicity.... isn't it ?

Well, it's also possible that the author believes that Thai Buddhism is the only really authentic buddhism and therefore only a Thai would have been appropriate as an object to be photographed in the temple grounds. A Thai like himself. Perhaps a Thai model would have been better too. Preferably not a woman.

The real shame for buddhism is that people don't understand the real reason for the sexist woman-phobia. If they did they'd be too embarrassed to make any comment at all.

I like what you say, Annie, but the second part of your comment calls for more explanations from you. Besides, is it a shame only for Buddhism ? Aren't all present religions on this planet blatantly macho and hysterically (sorry for choosing that word, I use it for lack of a better one) anti-sex ?

The implacable irony of it is that, in their ferocious urge to control sexual desire, religions all end up accusing the object of (most) men desire, ie women, when it's perfectly obvious that women are a lot less interested in sex per se than their male counterparts. And no, I don't think it's just due to social conditioning.

The big Western wave of 'sex liberation' in the 70s started a line of thinking which I believe to be essentially wrong, ie that male and female desire is essentially the same, both in nature and form. Some thinkers (most of them women of course) resisted that idea but they were not mainstream.

When I see men accusing women of being essentially a permanent temptation and hating them for that, it always makes me wonder how the male brain works, and how it could on the one hand produce a great amount of technological, philosophical and artistic achievments, while remaining, in certain fields, amazingly childish.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Yann55

[lvr181]

For many of us - ignorance is bliss

[AnnieT]

Quote "There's a problem! Our temple always has a problem!," said the outspoken artist of the White Temple in Chiang Rai.

I wonder what problem that might be. Hypocrisy ? sanctimoniousness ?

Too much stupid. Way too much stupid.

[AnnieT]

I can understand it if any of the photo's were in poor taste. However, only one of the photo's is potentially questionable (the one where the Chinese lady is framed by the Gold Leaf potentially depicting her as a deity instead of the statue she's blocking - see below).

But, that takes a big stretch of the imagination. It appears as though this artist simply has a dislike for the Chinese given recent 'toilet' events.

Its also possible / probable? that the Photographer had not requested permission to take professional photos - Again somewhat of a faux-pax.

Additionally, to create such art someone is perhaps a little 'whacky' in the first place - it wouldn't take much to upset someone a little whacky and highly strung.

All in all, not a big deal - nice photos - Good publicity for the Temple and Artist - but then again, any publicity is good publicity.... isn't it ?

Well, it's also possible that the author believes that Thai Buddhism is the only really authentic buddhism and therefore only a Thai would have been appropriate as an object to be photographed in the temple grounds. A Thai like himself. Perhaps a Thai model would have been better too. Preferably not a woman.

The real shame for buddhism is that people don't understand the real reason for the sexist woman-phobia. If they did they'd be too embarrassed to make any comment at all.

I like what you say, Annie, but the second part of your comment calls for more explanations from you. Besides, is it a shame only for Buddhism ? Aren't all present religions on this planet blatantly macho and hysterically (sorry for choosing that word, I use it for lack of a better one) anti-sex ?

The implacable irony of it is that, in their ferocious urge to control sexual desire, religions all end up accusing the object of (most) men desire, ie women, when it's perfectly obvious that women are a lot less interested in sex per se than their male counterparts. And no, I don't think it's just due to social conditioning.

The big Western wave of 'sex liberation' in the 70s started a line of thinking which I believe to be essentially wrong, ie that male and female desire is essentially the same, both in nature and form. Some thinkers (most of them women of course) resisted that idea but they were not mainstream.

When I see men accusing women of being essentially a permanent temptation and hating them for that, it always makes me wonder how the male brain works, and how it could on the one hand produce a great amount of technological, philosophical and artistic achievments, while remaining, in certain fields, amazingly childish.

You answer the question in the first paragraph by your comment in the second paragraph.

One becomes a buddhist (arguably) or enters the buddhist priesthood in search of spiritual enlightenment, which in one respect. is the dominion of the higher self over the lower self - or in Buddhist terms, enlightenment. And yet, the seekers after truth need protection from their carnal desires by not having women touch them etc etc. Not that this really means very much in the case of Thai Buddhism, which has way more than it's fair share of financial and sexual scandals. This is the major task they they have to achieve, and is symbolised by donning the saffron robe.

Seems to me to be a contradiction. But then the Thai priesthood is known to have more than it's fair share of contradictions - and criminals too (vide Suthep and Phra Buddha Issara) as well as a miscellany of lazy sods. The women priests are also known to have a lot of pollutants as well but that's not traditional Buddhism so far as I'm aware so perhaps it's not so important.

Most organised religion is little more than a joke upon the common people, as exemplified by the European "Divine Right of Kings" for example. They all serve the amartya in one form of another in their lust for temporal power (i.e. money).

But the White Temple is indeed very pretty, even for a copy.

Edited September 16, 2015 by AnnieT

[aripengu]

Such a nutjob! Stunning pictures!

[ozyjon]

I don't believe it

grow up you girl,

lady man, boy, i'll

smack you in a minute

stop screwing up my mind

[lamyai3]

Anyone who has visited the temple will know that in spite of the undeniably impressive exterior, the mural inside shows the artist's very questionable aesthetic taste...

http://www.travelphotoreport.com/2013/01/11/strange-interior-white-temple-chiang-rai/

Edited September 16, 2015 by lamyai3

[SiSePuede419]

Dim son.

[daveAustin]

You embarrass your country.

[Docno]

I'm sorry, but that egotistic monstrosity is not a temple, no monk should be visiting it, it represents everything that has been corrupted in Thai Buddhism.

There is not a four letter word that is unsuitable for describing the "artist" who designed it. If only that quake had taken it out.

Gaudi's buildings--and especially his basilica--in Barcelona were condemned by many of his contemporaries as tasteless monstrosities as well. Now they are recognised as World Heritage Sites. Different/'modern' doesn't always mean bad. And many people do find the white temple aesthetically pleasing ... it certainly makes a good backdrop in the OP photos. .

That said, the artist is clearly an egotist as you've said, what with the life-size cut-out of him standing at the entrance.