請眾仙

2020 – Present

楊茂林的創作出自於自身的需求所驅動，忠實於自己的生命史：「我自小就愛看漫畫，卡漫與電影英雄角色，都是拯救地球、維護宇宙和世界和平，其實就某些意義上，他們就像孩子心中的神佛，無私無悔犧牲自己保護世人。」這些深植於個人童稚記憶中的卡通，與普羅大眾喜愛的通俗文化，乃至民間傳統文化的宗教信仰，透過藝術家的創作語彙充分體現在卡漫神祇立體雕塑作品上。

他以「外來文化」與「次文化」的圖像，取藉佛理的概念與佛的基本典制，將大眾化的卡漫人物結合莊嚴神聖的神佛造型，創造聖俗相映的混合體，將一尊尊帶有光環的「神格卡漫人物」封為天王、明王、菩薩或如來等護法神，如：《北方無量光的尤達佛》以《星際大戰》的智者尤達打著佛手印，並在背光處以版畫敘事尤達的故事；《大日鐵如來》，楊茂林以日本漫畫《鐵人28號》結合大日如來，除了手印之外背光上描繪了太陽系星球，揭示古代文明的宇宙觀；而《騎盤古大蟾蜍的風暴白武天》則將《星際大戰》中的白武士融入隋唐時代佛教護法天王的造型等作品，藉此卡漫英雄變神祇呈現衝突美感，探觸台灣文化基底的混種要素，敘事殖民文化的滲透及其主體文化生成的思索。

Inviting the Immortals｜2020 – Present

Yang Mao-Lin’s work is driven by his personal needs, and has been faithful to his own life history: “I have always been fond of comics, cartoons, and heroes in movies. They are all about saving Earth and keeping the peace of the universe and the world. In a certain way, they are like devas and buddhas to children, selflessly sacrificing themselves and protecting humanity.” Whether the cartoons deeply rooted in his childhood memory, the popular culture loved by the general public, or the religious beliefs in traditional folk culture, they have all been fully embodied as the sculptural works of comic and cartoon deities through the artist’s creative vocabularies.

Using iconography of “foreign culture” and “subculture,” the artist combines ideas of Buddhism, the fundamental system of buddhas, and the solemn, holy looks of divinities with popular comic and cartoon characters, creating a mixture of sacredness and mundanity. He transforms these “deified comic and cartoon figures” with halos into guardian deities, and names them “deva,” “raja”, “bodhisattva,” or “buddha.” For instance, Amitabha Yoda of the North features the wise Master Yoda from Star Wars doing a mudra; and in the background, Yang tells the story of Yoda through narrative prints. Vairocana Tie Buddha is based on the Japanese comic Tetsujin 28-go, combined with the image of Mahavairocana. In addition to the mudra, the background depicts planets in the galaxy, revealing the cosmic view of ancient civilizations. In Stormtrooper Deva on Central Formosan Toad, the Stormtrooper in Star Wars is portrayed in the image of Lokapala from the Sui and Tang dynasties. Through the contradictory aesthetics of mixing heroes in comics and cartoons with deities, the artist explores the hybrid elements informing the root of Taiwanese culture, and addresses the infiltration of colonial culture as well as the formation of its subjective culture.

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