The+Three+Sages+in+the+Ocean+of+Misery+-+Yang+Maolin


 * The Three Sages in the Ocean of Misery created by Yang Maolin**

Picture courtesy of National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts



Title: The Three Sages in the Ocean of Misery **楊茂林**苦海三聖 Artist: Yang Maolin 楊茂林 Date: 2009 Country of Origin: China/Taiwan Cultural/Ethnic Affiliation: Chinese/Taiwanese Medium: Digital Print on Metallic Photography Paper Dimensions: 215x360cm approx 4ft x 7ft Current Location and Manner of Display: Last on display at following exhibition: Continuation – Special Exhibition of LI Chun-Shen Modern Painting Award Winners 2010/03/13 ~ 2010/05/16 360°Exhibition Area Curator / Shu-Ping Shih

This page was constructed with the idea of featuring artist Yang Mao-Lin of Taiwan and his art work centering on Hollywood Cinema characters. This page gives a detailed contextual analysis of each section of Yang's work "The Three Sages in the Ocean of Misery" as well as a general overview of other works incorporated in this same theme. Some autobiographical as well as third party biographical information is included with several external references for further research. Yang's work can be compared to many other artists from around the world both in form as well as content. To get an idea of Yang's passion and perspective read from his own words: "Art is my method to subvert, a tool to prove my existence and my language. Art is my language. All the time, I hope that I can introduce my points of view about life, including culture, environments, society, history and politics, to the public. Materials serve as a tool to express my ideas. Firstly, I really like cartoons and I have raised their significance beyond the level of just a cartoon. They are pretty and they carry a message. ... Second, they're not real, it's just a story, like Buddhism, they have a place. Third, their place is of equal respect, just as in Buddhism, all things are given equal respect."
 * Introduction**

This piece is first a digital print, so there in no painting or drawing style of brushstroke, but he artist's hands are still seen in the color choice and balance of the piece. This triptych style piece has three main center figures, the first being King Kong, the middle appears to be superheroes in a Pieta style, and the last appears to be a Mermaid. Each individual section measures approximately seven foot high by four foot wide for a total length of twelve foot. Each has their own individual name; the center piece is Extraordinary Love. They are all modeled after the classic iconography of the ultimate primordial Buddha, or Adi Buddha, according to the Gelug and Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Each figure is positioned atop a pedestal in the traditional lotus style; the second and third of the superheroes and mermaid being rather traditional and that of King Kong the pedestal is in a mock up of the Empire State Building. The colors used on the first set of images seem to be that of a negative image. Yang uses bold secondary colors like pink and purple, orange and green. In the second image of the same series the colors appear duller, perhaps because of the over all gold tonal qualities. The hard lines of the muscles and the contour of the torso are highlighted. There is no softness in the lines and the composition, nor is there any ambiguity. The anger and accusation is clearly stated through all the images.
 * Descriptive Analysis**

Concentrating on the first in the series portraying King Kong, first what is noticeable is that there are planes flying about the main image, perhaps taking the place of traditional cherub like figures. There are several bushes of flowers circling the main figure in the style of the traditional lotus pedestal. Encircling King Kong’s two sets of arms and set of legs for a total of six appendages is a black with white outline scarf or ribbon. At the heart of the great beast is his love, the tragic damsel in distress. Beneath yet another set of planes are the two supporting figures; Godzilla and what might be a Transformer, both sitting on their own pedestals. This image is painted as from an aerial or bird's eye view.

Next are the superheroes in the form of the Pieta. The Pieta is a traditional portrayal of the Mother Mary and dead Jesus. This traditional imagery shows the love and compassion of a mother, and the agape love of the dying Lord. These superheroes appear in a similar posture however the overall portrayal of the image remains that of a traditional Buddha figure. There are three Buddha like figures both above and below the superheroes. The three on the bottom appear evil, or as the bad guys, in a traditional position of sinners standing in flames, while the three floating above appear to be heroes as well. A sort of ribbon like pink smoke wraps its way around all of the heroic figures connecting them. This image is done with one point perspective.

The final traditional style Buddha image is that of a mermaid. Surrounding the mermaid's pedestal are dolphins, seahorses, and various coral like forms. Unlike the multi-appendage figures of the first two, the mermaid only appears to have the normal two arms and one tail, though her hair is fanned out in appearance of appendages. Beneath the mermaid are three more figures. To the far left is an image recognized as Ursula, the sea witch, to the far right is the image recognized as Triton, the sea king, and directly beneath the mermaid in the center is that of the mermaid as a human married to her prince. All are floating in a sea of water.

To understand an artwork, it usually helps to understand the artist and the historical context in which the piece was created. Yang Maolin is an artist that has seen great transformation in Taiwan. Yang has lived through Martial Law and the island’s release from it; he has seen democracy come to Taiwan, and witnessed street protests and social conflict. When Yang formed the 101 Modern Art Group and eventually the Taipei Modern Art Group. They focused their works on the social conditions in Taiwan reflecting on the times and referring to political criticism. Yang’s work often featured angry shouting, flying bricks, and police batons; art anchored in the island's history and then current social transformation. The group was made of young brave and daring men who all felt the need to explore something profound in their art. With this kind of background, their works, including Yang Maolin’s, strongly reflected a position of spiritual wandering characteristic of Taiwanese art. Art works produced from this group during this time made intellectually defiant points on politics, history, and ethnicity. They were able to use the social upheaval to rise to be some of Taiwan’s leading contemporary artists. Yang Maolin eventually broke from the group and started leading the transavantgarde painting movement in Taiwan. Yang utilized his canvases as a means in which to actively protest against social injustices. His work was a search for a new identity, similar to that of Taiwan with the removal of China, then Japan, and a return to China.
 * Formal and Contextual Analysis [[image:LinKeng_YanMaoLin.jpg width="377" height="280" align="right" caption="Yang's 3D sculptures of the same concept. Photo courtesy of asiaarts.ucla.edu" link="@http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=80006"]] **

He uses modern Hollywood cinema characters as a new sublime experience of global entertainment. Yang has many levels of meaning in his work. One reflects on the religious concepts used in modern entertainment. Hollywood cinema on the surface is a vehicle of childlike entertainment aimed to entertain a modern market, yet a closer look uncovers an abundance of religious components. Yang draws similarities between Superman and Jesus. Both selflessly protect humanity though they have been sent from a distant father to earth. Yang uses many superheroes and characters such as King Kong, Godzilla, Peter Pan, and the Little Mermaid. He transforms them into Buddha’s and Bodhisattva. Other angles to understanding his work have to do with religious morality and scientific and technological destructive potentials. Characters such as the Hulk, Godzilla, and even Superman as well as several others, link to science as the result of scientific experiments gone wrong. Superman is the last representative from a technologically more advanced society in outer space whose home planet has exploded. There seems a warning about letting science overpower religious and moral ethics. The last approach is by understanding Taiwan’s unique geographic and political place, and it’s resulting American and Japanese influences, an aspect of culture mating. Since 1990s Yang began to criticize the Taiwanese social acculturation under the long-term influence from American and Japanese culture. Yang makes Taiwan come across in his images as the bastard child of Chinese, Japanese, and American culture and influence – obnoxious, chaotic, and unstable. This explains his rationale for combining Buddhism and iconic animation characters, such as the Little Mermaid and Peter Pan, in sculptures, for him the concept of re-interpretation and cultural syncretism are representative of Taiwan’s culture.

The King Kong Buddha appears to have similarities with the traditional image of the Buddha Amitayus – Immeasurable Life. Both have two additional Buddhist figures acting as support columns for the base on which the Buddha figure sits. The airplanes that surround the King Kong figure seem to be in a significant assemblage relationship to the smaller flying Buddhist figures that surround the Buddha Amitayus. The Buddha Amitayus appears as a celestial deity and King Kong is recognized as being atop the Empire State Building, about as high as a non-flying earth creature could get. Featured alongside King Kong in the place of the supporting figures are Godzilla and perhaps a Transformer.

“My art is directly related to issues I am concerned with. There are many different types of artists. I belong to the type who must be touched by or feel deeply for something to make it into art. It must be real to me to drive and to motive my artistic creation. I speak for the things I care for through artistic expression.” Yang Maolin

“I tried to vent off my frustration at the Taiwanese society, at politics, at the public uprisings in those years through either powerful visual images, fable-like metaphors, or battling, violent images.” Yang Maolin

The Superhero image in the center resembles two traditional religious iconography. First the imagery is a traditional Buddha like the rest, only it mirrors the [|Buddha Vajradhara]– Extraordinary Love. This is no surprise as a standard emotion associated with the Pieta is that of the extraordinary love between Jesus and his mother Mary.

“Buddhism and animation both come from outside Taiwan, but as time goes by, we accept and localize these sub-cultures. Through our eyes, they take on new interpretations and personas.” Yang Maolin

“Gods are considered the highest and most sublime of entities, while heroes and heroines in comics and animations are far more common. They seem completely unrelated, but both the Buddhist gods and superheroes have enormous powers and spirits of sacrifice.” Yang Maolin

“The images that dominate our lives have an equal significance. The messages in comics that we read as children are as important to us as our understanding of religion. Pop culture shapes us as much as God.” Yang Maolin

The Mermaid figure seems to best resemble the Buddha Bhaisajyaguru. Both images exist in a water world. In the mermaid image she is surrounded by other characters from the Disney movie including Triton, Ursula, and Eric, including many sea creatures including sea horses and dolphins. Triton and Ursula serve as the supporting Buddhist figures supporting the Buddha's pedestal. Perhaps the largest artistic similarity is that of the inverted skin. Most Buddha images have light color skin while the skin color of the Buddha Bhaisajyaguru and that of the mermaid have dark skin.

"When I was a kid and read fairy tales, I saw how the little mermaid gave up her life of freedom in the sea and her tender voice. Though she could live near her beloved prince, she couldn't confess her love to him and could only watch in silence as he married another. In the end she killed herself over her broken heart. I felt so sad when I read it." Yang Maolin

“For many of us, these comic book heroes and heroines are companions while we are growing up and figures we worship and identify with. Doesn’t religion play the same role in many people’s lives?” Yang Maolin

One can read about the many forms of traditional Buddha’s on Google books. The article is titled “The Iconic and Anionic Buddha Visualization in Medieval Chinese Buddhism” by Koichi Shinohara or in Buddhist Symbols By Tatjana Blau and Mirabai Blau.

I was initially drawn to these images because of my own infatuation with cartoon characters. I, as many others, have fond memories of my childhood that are associated with these characters, especially The Little Mermaid. I found it very intriguing what Yang Maolin was doing with this synthesis. I felt as though he was making a comment that somehow Hollywood or even television and modern media were replacing not only religion but traditional habits as well. In such a fast paced modern world, one doesn't have to be very old to recall on how much different life was when they were young. It is an intriguing notion to think of how drastically media has replaced religion and society in our lives. In considering Taiwan, I felt that these images represented a clear notion of outside influences. It was as if Yang Maolin was saying that Taiwan's own culture was a mixture of outside influenced, tradition from Japan and China and technology and science, and media from America. These images send powerful messages yet they are something I could see hanging on the back of my own teenage door.
 * Personal Interpretations**

As social commentary blending the format of religious art with pop culture reminds one of the famous medieval Japanese scroll of animal caricatures ( //Choju Giga// 鳥獣 戯画 ) where a frog is depicted as a Buddha.

Yang Maolin has clear anime and manga influences in his work. There are many sites showcasing manga artists worldwide. Designzzz is just one of the many sites where more modern digital works are created in the anime manga style. To go to the Artist’s Profile Click on their name, to go to the Artwork, click on the artwork name, and to see full view image click on the image.
 * Other Art Resources for work similar to Yang Maolin**

Personally I have been a fan of deviantart.com since high school. They have tons of modern artists from around the globe, many unrecognized, some untalented, but all passionate. There is a particular artist, unfortunately sometimes all a reader might get will be the profile name, some have full bios, but this website is defiantly the Internets' trendiest gallery for the unpublished. This type of site is the new form of transavantgarde art the Yang Maolin does, only speaks to a much broader audience covering photography, drawing, painting, digital art, and much more. View the Modern Buddha (seen right) on deviant art. You can search deviant art’s archives by category or keyword. You can search by sub categories like newest submissions or most popular. They have what they call daily deviations where they showcase particular artists or works. You can even order prints. Check out other works by searching Taiwan, and find art work like My Taiwan and Taiwan.

A division of Art.com, Artistrising.comis wonderful way to view new artists in several media. As far as for what can be found on the web page, there are some beautiful anime prints that approach art the same way Yang did, with a new take on the classic. Read about artist Mark Richmond and his piece, Reflection.

Digitalart.org is a website designed for digital artists to showcase their work on a user friendly interface. They have pages featuring Articles, Interviews, Events, and Shows. You can search by keyword or by category and millions of different artists from around the globe.

Taiwan Panorama Taiwan Panorama is Taiwanese based magazine. It contains helpful scholarly articles and a "panorama" of Taiwanese cultural and historical information. This includes an article on Yang Maolin titled "Seeing the Immortals: The World of Sculptor Yang Maolin" Taipei Times articles: "Art for God's Sake" and "Superman and Pokémon as you've never imagined." Taiwan Today Article "Comic gods’ to debut in Venice biennale" By Amber Wu [|NTMOFA The Viewing of Contemporary Art in Taiwan] National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art MOCA Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art ArtLinkArt Artist Database TFAM Taipei Fine Arts Museum The Journal of Asian Arts & Aesthetics Article "History Remaking and Cultural Identity: Subjectivity Transformation in Taiwan’s Visual Culture" Taiwan ReviewArticle "Anything Goes" by Emma Wu ArtEmporer Interview with Yang Mao-Lin AsianArts Artxun
 * References**

LOST IN WONDERLAND - YANG MAOLIN SOLO EXHIBITION

Yang Maolin 楊茂林 is a contemporary Taiwanese artist born in 1953 in Changhua City, Changhua County, Taiwan. He currently lives and works out of Taichong, Taiwan. Yang Maolin has been a professional artist since 1979. Yang is currently represented by multiple galleries including the Andrew James Art in Shanghai, the Lin & Keng Gallery in Bejing and Taipei, and the Ting Keng Gallery in Taipei. In 1979 Yang graduated from the Chinese Culture University's Fine Arts Department. In 1982 he was an initiator of the 101 Modern Art Group and in 1985 helped found as well as served as the first Chairman of the Taipei Painting Society. In 1991 he won the First Lion Art Creation Award of Hsiung Shih Fine Arts and in 1999 the prestigious Li Jhong-Sheng Foundation of Modern Art Award. Yang was the initiator of the Handtoo Art Group in 1998. In 2002 he graduated from the Graduate School of Fine Arts of Taipei Naional University of the Arts. In 2003 he became a part-time lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts, Tung Hai University, Taichun, Taiwan. His works have been shown in numerous exhibitions, including his first solo exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum; in 1990 he participate in the Taiwan Art Museum Exhibition "300 years of Taiwan Art"; in 1995 his works were included in the "Exhibition of Taiwanese Art" in Rome.
 * The Artist**