Vinci Weng’s three photographic works – Amusement in the Street Market, Travellers among Hills in Midsummer, and A Wonderful Picnic – all present vibrant scenes reminiscent of temple fair celebrations, viewed from an elevated perspective. These images evoke the communal landscapes of Along the River During the Qingming Festival, teeming with lively, animated figures.

The latter two works depict family outings and countryside picnics, with both their form and content reflecting a distinctly middle-class sensibility. In contrast, the colourful Amusement in the Street Market conveys stronger grassroots, working-class atmosphere. While all three compositions are constructed through recombination and collage, the resulting virtual or artificial effect remains relatively understated.

At first glance, Travellers among Hills in Midsummer and A Wonderful Picnic call to mind the renowned 15th-century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch’s masterpiece The Garden of Earthly Delights. Set in expansive landscapes, people of all ages – men, women, and children – are shown at leisure among various animals, creating a deliberately staged vision of human interaction with nature. However, these scenes are devoid of any overt critique, and certainly lack the apocalyptic religious warnings found in Bosch’s Garden.

Weng displays considerable maturity in his use of colour, composition, and form, with meticulous and richly detailed execution throughout. Of the three, Amusement in the Street Market most powerfully evokes a sense of local festivity. Its long, narrow format echoes the structure of traditional Chinese literati scrolls, though here, vivid and saturated colours replace the usual subtle, refined tones.

Through recombination and careful arrangement, the processed umbrellas – striking in their brightness – become the visual focal point. This is a secular paradise rich in local character, yet it harbours no hidden critique. In both Taiwan and mainland China, the theme of a "lost paradise" – a once-idyllic world distorted, destroyed, or even invaded by demonic forces – is a familiar one. Yet the cynicism and disillusionment that often underpin such depictions are noticeably absent from Weng’s work.

To me, these are exceptional pieces – direct, with a touch of surrealism, skillfully composed and technically assured. What emerges is a vivid celebration of community joy, and a pure visual delight. Art, sometimes, can be just that simple.

The Secular Garden of Delight | text by Prof. Oscar Ho Hing-kay Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Formerly Exhibition Director at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, Senior Research Officer at the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong Government, and Founding Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai.