The “Buddha without Form Series” originated from the wire that Tsai unconsciously wound in his studio. The wire gradually took shape, and Tsai saw it somewhat resembling the Buddha’s head, so he created the imagery accordingly. The Buddha’s head was roughly outlined owing to the limitations of winding wire by hand, yet the viewers can immediately recognize it, hence his idea of “Buddha without form.”
Tsai believes that, in the Chinese world, the Buddha’s image has been deeply rooted in people’s mind. Most people can recognize it just by looking at it from a distance. Therefore, the Buddha has no exact, concrete image, viz., the “Buddha without form.” Art critic Liao Ren-I further commented that the form of Tsai’s “Buddha without Form Series” is faintly discernible, “implying that the greatness of the Buddha does not lie in his form,” “devoutness should not be confined to image,” and “it’s not so much his image as his teaching that renders the Buddha divine.”
