《摩訶極樂世界複刻版》系列 (2009-2011)

楊茂林 Mao-Lin Yang

《摩訶極樂世界的黑牛菩薩II》，銅雕‧金箔，131.5x86x55 cm，2010。

《摩訶極樂世界的鐵人菩薩II》，銅雕‧金箔，133x48x78 cm，2010。

《摩訶極樂世界的不空阿強佛II》，銅雕‧金箔，141x85x116 cm，2011。

《摩訶極樂三聖之不空阿強佛》，不鏽鋼‧金箔，114x110x150 cm，2009。

《苦海三聖—無敵愛金剛》，金屬相紙，215x120 cm，2010。

   

摩訶極樂世界複刻版

我將卡漫、童話人物列於仙班，這個系列作品的創作思維，大約是從一九九五年開始，從繪畫、電腦影像製作、雕塑一路延伸下來；最早主要是為了表述我從「殖民文化的滲透與影響vs.主體文化的生成與建立」這個角度的思考，挪用了這些「外來文化」與「次文化」的圖像，拿來類比為民間傳統中所謂的「仙」。經過十六年來的反芻與思考，如今對我更有吸引力的元素，則是從優生學的角度混種、雜交所產生出來的新鮮感與生命力。

無論是過去、現在、未來，也就是佛家所說的「三世」，任何一個時代的人們，總會透過幻想、神話、故事…為自己所無能為力的世界，擬想製造出一些英雄角色、理想人物，寄予希望與夢想，從而獲得心靈上的滿足與救贖。

我的雕塑系列一開始就挪用了當今之世人們心中企盼的救贖典型：將理想中正義、真誠、道德、拯救世界的神力，藉著重新編改捏造的神像，重新賦予祂們大家最為熟悉的卡漫名角（比如阿強、鐵人28…）、童話人物（像是小飛俠彼得潘、愛麗絲…）的形象，並為祂們製造了獨具風格的珍奇座騎。藉由這些幻化為眾模各樣的佛菩薩造像，用以象徵著雖然世間有億萬各不相同的眾生，但是每個人心中卻都有著異中見同的佛心與善念。

佛家說：悟道即是佛，既然宇宙中的「佛」就像恆河流沙那麼多，既然人人可以悟道成佛、可以立地成佛，那麼佛的法相當然也可以「相隨心轉」；「宗教」是人類社會中的精神寓所，而「卡漫」與「童話」中的救贖角色，則可以說已經是這數十年來，幾代人文化上最具永恆性與共通性的精神寄託與造像，就某種意義而言，他（它）們可說是早就已經「立地成佛」了。

「摩訶極樂世界」是我最早開始的鑄銅作品系列，經過了這麼多年，我對於雕塑的造型、語彙跟實驗性有了更多的想像，在這樣的概念中再創造、再豐富的慾望逐漸累積、昇高，因此這次發表的「摩訶極樂世界複刻版」，就是為了滿足自己在雕塑造像、變化無窮的染銅技巧等等，難以言表的藝術語言之奧妙的探索樂趣，付諸實現。

Black OX Bodhisattva of Pure Land of Maha II, Bronze & Gold Leaf, 131.5x86x55 cm, 2010.

Iron Man Bodhisattva of Pure Land of Maha II, Bronze & Gold Leaf, 133x48x78 cm, 2010.

Ah Chiang Deva of Pure Land of Maha II, Bronze & Gold Leaf, 141x85x116 cm, 2011.

The Three Sages of Ah Chiang Deva of Pure Land of Maha, Stainless Metal & Gold Leaf, 114x110x150 cm, 2009.

The Three Sages in the Ocean of Misery-Extraordinary Love Vajradhara, Metal Photo Paper, 215x120 cm, 2010.

Revisiting the Pure Land of Maha

 

Sometime around 1995, I started thinking about ideas for the series the Pure Land of Maha, which introduces cartoon and fairy tale characters into the pantheon of the deities and includes painting, computer generated imagery and sculpture. In the beginning I mostly wanted to express my ideas about the impact of colonial culture versus the establishment and production of local cultures. In this series I make analogies between the imagery of foreign cultures or subcultures and the deities of folk traditions. Today, I find the novelty that arises from cultural fusion, which is like genetic hybridizing, to be most vital, especially after ruminating over these ideas for the last sixteen years.

Regardless of which of the Buddha's three lifetimes—the past, present or future—or which era we are considering, humanity always invents heroes or idealized persons through myth or legend in hopes that they will deal with problems that we are incapable of mastering, thus providing spiritual satisfaction and redemption.

The first works in my sculpture series focused on a typical form of redemption desired by people today: the extraordinary power of idealized justice, sincerity and morality to save the world. I recast the images of certain deities in the roles of familiar cartoon characters (such as Boss or Tetsujin 28-gō) or characters from fairy tales (Peter Pan or the Alice of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), and place them on unique pedestals and mounts. Through these imaginary and unfamiliar Bodhisattva images, I symbolize the fact that although there are countless sentient beings in the world, each one possess its own Buddha heart and good thoughts.

Buddha is the way to enlightenment so says Buddhism, and since there are as many Buddhas in the universe as there are stars in the heavens and anyone can attain Buddhahood, the laws of Buddhism allow a changes of form that are as easy as changing one’s mind. Religion is the locus of spirituality in a society, and it could be said that cartoons and fairy tales have already become the site of the eternal spirit and redemption for the generations of the last few decades. In some significant way, it could be said that these characters have become Buddhas.

The Land of Pure Maha is the first series where I used bronze casting. Now, many years later, having more experience with experimental sculpture techniques and language, I decided to create a richer version of this work. The purpose of Revisiting the Pure Land of Maha is not only to satisfy a desire that has been building over the years, but also to explore sculpture, difficult ideas and the inexhaustible variations of patina techniques.