Matthew Mertes (http://matthewmertes.wordpress.com)

Matt Mertes: Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, Victorious Fighting Buddha, and Sun Wukong/Son Gokuu

Matt’s series of digital prints plays with different representations of the same mythological character, known in China as Sun Wukong and in Japan as Son Gokuu, in order to create a modern imagery of the classical mythology of the Monkey King. Traditionally, Sun Wukong was a monkey born from a stone who, through Taoist practices, learned many magical arts and challenged the Heavenly Kingdom, proclaiming himself “Great Sage, Equal of Heaven,” until he was imprisoned by the Buddha under a mountain. Eventually, in return for accompanying the monk Xuanzang to retrieve the Buddhist sutras, he was granted Buddhahood and received the title “Victorious Fighting Buddha.”

Drawing from both traditional Chinese and Japanese cultural and artistic traditions, these digital prints illustrate mythology in a way that both references previous depictions and contemporary art. In particular, the use of delicate black line and light blocks of color washes resembles traditional watercolor and ink paintings and Ukiyo-e woodblock prints. By extending this tradition formally, it positions these works within that tradition and allows for comparisons between these works and well-known chinese and Japanese motifs. For example, the yin and yang of “Sun Wukong/Son Gokuu” is reminiscent of Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa, bringing in references to elemental forces of wind and water, while a similar scene is depicted in the spiraling tail of the monkey. The monkey’s bandaged arm references the modern day Japanese flag, and at the same time the rising sun the flag represents. The contrast of sun and moon feed into the yin yang imagery established by the positive and negative space of the monkey’s tail and background. On the monkey’s wrist can be seen the Wheel of Dharma, a traditional symbol of the Buddha’s teachings. Similarly, in the print “Victorious Fighting Buddha,” Mertes employs Buddhist imagery with the enlarged ears of the monkey and the banner of victory. Superimposed in front of the rays of the sun, Wukong appears as a victorious and godlike figure. The victory banner is again seen in “Great Sage, Equal of Heaven,” along with Wukong’s magical staff. His tail encircles the cloud, symbolizing his skill in “cloud travelling” and relating to the story when he wreaked havoc in the Kingdom of Heaven by releasing the Cloud Horses and proclaimed himself “Great Sage, Equal of Heaven.”

Through the appropriation of Buddhist, Chinese and Japanese imagery, these digital prints entrench themselves in the traditions of mythological representation. Despite this, they are first and foremost a product of contemporary art. Engaging the modern digital style often used by contemporary artists like Takashi Murakami and drawing from anime and manga styles of art, these pieces allow for more modern understandings of traditional stories. The work uses bright colors and bold marks to express movement and the excitement and of the stories, while the line quality is much lighter and sketchier, giving the subject a similar fluidity and action. The figures with feet are standing with one foot forward and are obviously in the process of some motion or other. The light blue negative space within the monkey in “Sun Wukong/ Son Gokuu” resembles clouds or spray, but remains in abstraction, almost like pixels breaking down the brown form of the monkey, working modern marks into the traditional Sun Wukong imagery. As a whole, the pieces are contained, figural representation of different manifestations of Sun Wukong that bring a traditional mythology into a very contemporary art method to question Wukong’s changing identity and how it relates to our modern world.

--Christopher Squier