有關愛情的故事

2007-2009

楊茂林於此一系列所表達的,正是亙古以來人類所共通共修的嗔、癡、哀、樂之情,所謂愛情,是如此的簡單純粹,又是如此地滂薄而深刻,漫長的過程中,藝術家表示:因為創作而再三體會、時時重溫這些原是虛構的愛情故事,每每,心中仍湧出很多的感動。無論是銅鑄造的三個愛情悲劇,還是不銹鋼塑造的三個愛情喜劇,楊茂林都以密宗歡喜佛的造型與姿勢予以「神格化」,讓他們在蓮花座上結為連理。而佛教造像的特徵之一─神佛的背光,他則採取了以浮雕跟鏤刻兩種平面化的技術,呈現為整個浪漫愛情故事作總結視覺符號,製作成象徵神聖性的背光,闡述楊茂林心目中對於愛情的純粹與神聖性之想望。


 

A Story About Affection | 2007-2009

What Yang Mao-lin is trying to say here is that since ancient times humanity’s shared and mutually cultivated feelings of joy, sorrow, infatuation and anger – so-called love – are just that pure and simple, at once frivolous yet deep. Over the long haul, what he has repeatedly experienced and is constantly relearning is that these originally imaginary love stories can often still bring out a lot of emotions in him. Whether with the three tragic love stories in copper or the three comedy love stories in stainless steel, he has used the form and postures of the tantric Laughing Buddha to “deify” them, imbuing them with the common thread of the Lotus Position. And as to one of the symbolic characteristics of Buddhist statuary – the backlighting of the holy Buddha – he has employed the flat surface techniques of relief sculpture and engraving to display a summary visual marker for the whole of the romantic love story, creating the effect of a symbolically sacred backlighting, expounding upon the idealized purity and sacredness of love in his mind’s eye.