Seeing the World with Your Eyes and Heart

If seeing with your eyes is limiting
Feeling with your heart will set you free

Ko Si-Chi

is the first Taiwanese photographer to be featured at Hammer Galleries, one of the oldest galleries in New York City. His photographic works create an engaging pictorial tapestry, which explains why Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian described his photography as a painting.

‧ Ko Si Chi and his wife

‧ Olay ! Antonio, 1979, Ko Si Chi

‧ Presence of Venus, 1979, Ko Si-Chi

Seeing the Beauty of the World with Your Heart

At the height of his career in 1979, Ko Si-Chi had grown sick and tired of the search for fame and fortune in the midst of urban life, Leaving it all behind, he purchased a second-hand car in Amsterdam and drove across Europe and Africa. During this period of exile, he created internationally acclaimed photographic works with a unique style, such as Presence of Venus (1979), Gold, Sicily (1979), and Olay! Antonio, Spain (1979). e mention of this unforgettable trip recall these memories, which remain as vivid as images and events experienced only yesterday.

Ko Si-Chi created Tree and Wall, Portugal (1979) during his sojourn there. While driving aimlessly through the streets one day, he was so touched by a scene that he backed the car to the spot and took a photo. is work serves as a link between Ko Si-Chi and his wife, who said, “When I rst met him, I hesitated to accept him because of his uninhibited lifestyle. But the sight of Tree and Wall made me realize his passion for a home.”

‧ Gold, 1979, Ko Si Chi

Home – A Place with Touching Memories

“Everyone has roots, and my roots are in Taiwan. I noticed that every country has local photographers who document its beauty. at’s why I returned to the island to keep my promise to my teacher and also to pass down my experience to the younger generation.”

After extensive travel across the world, Ko Si-Chi returned to Taiwan in 1997 and passionately began photography projects. e scenes and gures documented through his lens give insight into the island’s various features, capturing them for eternity.

Ko Si-Chi, now in his late years, talks about his future plans with eyes shining like stars as if he were still a child – a scene wonderfully evocative of great masters like Picasso and Matisse. Age is never a barrier for artists as they passionately see the world with hearts that are always full of creativity.

‧ Tree and Wall, 1979, Ko Si Chi

The Sea in Golden Light

What kind of gem would the combination of Ko Si Chi’s photography with Franz’s porcelain reveal?

The Sea in Golden Light is one of Ko Si-Chi’s classics. In 1988, after having a few drinks with friends, the photographer went up to the mountains alone to take pictures of the moon. At dawn the rising sun turned the sea into a mix of black and gold, dotted with several shing boats and shermen, which in turn added vitality to the scene.

Featured in the United Nations’ calendar “Water Protection 1994” this widely acclaimed photographic work was personally chosen by Ko Si Chi for his joint project with Franz. At rst, he felt insecure as he was clueless as to what the nal work would look like once the one dimensional image had been turned into a three dimensional porcelain piece. However, the nal product amazed the photographer, who said, “Its form metaphorically shows the enormity of the sea, with wave like golden patterns giving my photographic work a new dimension.”

The vase’s designer, Lee, revealed that The Sea in Golden Light presents an undefinable, enigmatic feeling, making it difficult for the design team to create a porcelain piece based on the original scenery. Nevertheless, they managed to come up with an innovative design. To demonstrate the vastness of the ocean, the porcelain piece takes a concave form along its vertical line and takes a convex shape along its horizontal line, with increasingly less shape contrast towards the ends, thus giving an illusion of endless space. Moreover, as it has a concave surface, the piece can focus the attention of the viewer.

Franz has once again obviated constraints on shapes, colors and quality through interdisciplinary creation, introducing “e Sea in Golden Light” porcelain vase, an appealing piece that duly gives Ko Si-Chi’s classic photographic work a second life.

Photography captures the touching moments Porcelain immortalizes these classic images

The transformation from a two dimensional photograph to a three dimensional porcelain artwork with delicate relief sculpting and rich colors captures the classic scenery and subtle light and shadow of " e Sea in Golden Light".

According to the sculptor, it was quite dicult to present in relief the alteration of the light and shadows as reected on the sea surface by the rising sun. It was an unprecedented challenge to sculpt patterns recreating the grains of sand, the waves, and the interplay of light and shadow featured in the original photograph.

The porcelain piece, seemingly only in black and gold, is actually a rich pictorial tapestry painted in shades of brown and yellow that enhance the gold color to create a dynamic interplay between light and shadow. Spray and brush painting patterns, along with sculpted reliefs, give the black expanse a sense of perspective and depth.