Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei

Gong Jow-Jiun is a professor teaching at the Tainan National University of the Arts’ Doctoral Program in Art Creation and Theory. In 2006, he published Dispositif of the Body: Merleau-Ponty and the Limits of Phenomenology which won the Young Scholar Writing Prize of Academia Sinica in 2007. Since 2010, he has been serving as editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine, Art Critique of Taiwan (ACT), which won the National Publishing Prize in 2011. He began doing contemporary art curatorial work in 2013, and has co-curated Are We Working too Much?; The Return of Ghosts; Wild Rhizome; TAKAO. Taike. Southern Hue, and other exhibitions. He also curated Kau-Puê, Mutual Companionship in Near Future: 2017 Soulangh International Contemporary Art Festival, which won the Taishin Arts Award Annual Grand Prize in 2018. Hunter-Gatherer Leading the Route: Traces to the Sources of Zeng-wen River, which he was the editor-in-chief of, won the 45th Golden Tripod Award in 2021 for the non-fiction category. The 2022 Mattauw Earth Triennial - Tseng-wen River, A River with A Thousand Names, which Gong curated and won the 2023 Good Design Gold Award in Japan, is considered his most iconic work amongst his recent curatorial endeavors.

Yang Mao-Lin (b. 1953, Changhua, Taiwan) came into the Taiwanese art scene in the 1980s, and is considered one of the most iconic first-generation artists of contemporary art in Taiwan. Growing up, Yang underwent the White Terror, as well as the period of martial law and its lifting. He has witnessed the emergence of contemporary art in Taiwan, and the full-fledged expansion of globalization. Historical turmoil and the change of social milieu have provided Yang with a vigorous creative context. In the initial period, he challenged taboos and questioned political and social authorities, demonstrating a fiercely and fearlessly critical attitude, reflecting Taiwan’s political scene and reality of social transformation before and after the lifting of martial law with his intensely creative and powerful painting style.

In 1987, around the lifting of martial law, Taiwan entered a raging era: the restlessness resulting from the liberation of social forces entered the island into an unprecedented period of change. Back then, as an artist born, raised, and educated in Taiwan, Yang could not find a paradigmatic pathway from the academic system or among the established artists in Taiwanese art history. Consequently, he looked for inspiration from the contemporaneous New Painting movement from Europe, and was inspired by the Transavanguardia italiana, which upheld the idea of “searching for inspiration and exploring the root in one’s own history.” Yang thereby expressed the raging power and vibrantly creative force engendered by the era through artistic means, and created several art series, such as Mythology (1984-1986), Graphic Hero (1986), and Behavior of Game Playing (1987-1989). He used mythological figures from Chinese mythology as semiotic signs and appropriated them to mirror his own self-realization. Utilizing ancient references as a form of provocation and rebellion against authoritarianism, he has found his own expressive vocabularies in subversion and criticism. His work has also revealed the development and evolution of his personal innerscape, while embodying the pulsation of the times.

After the lifting of martial law, Taiwan ushered in a period of rapid political and economic changes. Yang used the title of “MADE IN TAIWAN” to extensively explore the possibility of art through three different stages, namely, “Politics,” “History,” and “Culture” (respectively representing Taiwan’s past, present, and future).

MADE IN TAIWAN [Politics] elaborates on several themes, including the intrinsic nature of authoritarian regime, its public authority, ideological conditioning of thoughts, controlling educational system, as well as the sensationalism, infiltration and manipulation of media culture, which are developed into four series, namely, Limbs-Trunk Sign Section (1989-1990), Politics-Slogan Section (1990), N Ways of Understanding Carrot (1991), and The Phantom of a Deer (1991).

MADE IN TAIWAN [History] addresses Taiwan’s subjectivity, and attempts to expand the historical and cultural depth and width of Taiwan, posing one fundamental question: under the influence of multiple colonial powers, where does Taiwan’s cultural root lie? Yang employs the anthropological and archaeological approach of field study, and collages montage-like narrative structures to develop several series, including Yuanshan Memorandum(1991-1993), Lily Memorandum (1993-1994), Zeelandia Memorandum (1992-1994), and Tayouan Memorandum (1994-1999)

MADE IN TAIWAN [Culture] spans the longest period of time compared to other episodes. It begins with the first painting, Superman and Wu-Kong (1995), and ends with the final series, Kill Alice (2011). To the artist, the deepest cultural influence always comes from the life of the general public. It is also the first time that cartoon and comic elements are introduced into his works, along with fictional figures from ancient and modern popular cultures in Asia and the West. From comic to religious themes, he has created numerous series, including Culture Intercourse Tayouan History—Inviting the Immortals I (1996-1998), Baby, You’re Amazing—Inviting the Immortals II (2000-2002), Ceremonies Before Rewarding—Inviting the Immortals III (2002-2003), The Pure Land of Maha (2003-2006), Canonized Karma of Maha with Mandalas (2005-2007), Canonization of the Gods—The Wonderland in Saha World of Maha (2006-2009), and Kill Alice (2009-2011).

Regarding artistic creation, Yang has stated that “art is my strategy for subversion; my means of confirming my existence; my tool for securing my right to speak.” Since the beginning of his career, Yang’s work has macrocosmically portrayed the changing times, showing a majestic momentum, and has microcosmically displayed peculiar and innocent wits at the same time. In the artist’s heart resides a child-like self—his never-changing inner child. Such innocence and frankness have allowed the artist to consistently evolve throughout his artist career. The Quest for Mandala that Yang is now working on not only marks the first time that he shifts his focus from public topics to self-exploration, but also shows his reinvention of aesthetics and painterliness.