Artist Lin Guo-wu (林國武) has attracted media attention after he was arrested on Thursday for drawing a picture that depicted President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) having sexual intercourse with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The painter had remained relatively unknown for the last 13 years despite depicting many politicians in obscene drawings.
Taipei County Councilor King Chieh-shou (金介壽) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) recently received a postcard from Lin showing the image of Ma and Clinton.
After investigating, Taipei County police said Lin had also drawn crude pictures of former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Lin told the media he would have sent the postcards straight to the police had he known he would have received so much media attention over them.
PHOTO: HUANG LI-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The postcard King received depicted Ma standing on two bricks having sexual intercourse with Clinton using jiujiu shengong (九九神功)a method of qigong (氣功)in which practitioners hang and lift heavy objects such as bricks with their genitals.
King reported the matter to the police, saying that the postcards were insulting to the president. Lin was arrested by within 24 hours. Police said they found and confiscated two original sketches of the picture, postcards and a list of names of well-known people that Lin uses in his artworks.
The police originally thought Lin was a political extremist obsessed with politics, but later discovered that his works have also used Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet as subjects and are now at a loss as to what Lin intends with these illustrations.
From other works confiscated, the police could tell that Lin was a painter because of the fine detail of his work. The police also discovered that Lin’s name is registered in a cultural database kept by the Council for Cultural Affairs and that Lin had staged exhibitions of his works in 1993 and 2001, all on the subject of jiujiu shengong.
Lin, 48, graduated from the fine arts department at Chinese Culture University and delivers newspapers to make a living, earning NT$10,000 per month.
Lin’s mother said her son’s personality totally changed about a decade ago after he started learning jiujiu shengong and that she hoped the police would let her son free. However, Lin said that he didn’t mind going to jail for his art.
After questioning, the police charged Lin with “offenses against sexual morality (妨害風化罪).”
The police added the people depicted in the pictures could sue Lin if they feel their rights have been damaged.
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