李俊陽(b.1967~)
自稱「妙工俊陽」的李俊陽，是位像野生植物般生命力強又不受侷限的創作者。1967年出生於台東的他，成長於花蓮市，這輩子從未進過任何「正規藝術學院」，是位自學且多才多藝的創作者。若要問起他的藝術啟蒙，絕對是來自於身為電影看板畫師的父親，以及從小生活環境裡出現的各種「工」與「師」：水電工、小工、板模工、鐵工、木工、畫師、廟公、捆工、叔公、土地公…。
他生就一雙巧手，什麼東西一學就上手，年少時曾憧憬做「黑手」修機車，後來隨著父親的腳步成為看板畫師，也曾在廟裡學畫彩繪。當兵時期巧逢布袋戲偶師，也有樣學樣地拿起雕刻刀跟著刻起木偶頭，從書法、吉他、胡琴到古琴都無師自通，詩詞歌謠也都難不倒他。正式與「藝術圈」接軌，應該是他成為台中二十號倉庫的駐站藝術家開始，他不再封閉在自己的世界裡玩獨腳戲，開始與同儕們同台競技、相互激勵、學習，且於2003年成為亞洲文化協會(ACC)台灣地區的受獎人，前往紐約以及舊金山的賀德蘭藝術中心駐村，接受更強大的文化洗禮及衝擊。他也受邀參展了2017年的「近未來的交陪—蕭壠國際當代藝術節」及國立台灣美術館主辦的2018年台灣美術雙年展《野根莖》。
李俊陽的作品不論是繪畫、彩墨或是雕塑、裝置，其養分都源自於日常生活中的民間信仰、流行文化，諸如山海經中的神獸怪物、廟宇裡常見的福祿壽三仙、腳踏風火輪的哪吒、黃俊雄布袋戲裡的哈麥兩齒、他自「賊仔市」收藏來的各類玩具和日本漫畫英雄的公仔等…。尤其他將自小喜愛的英雄偶像「超人力霸王」(Ultraman)，融入、轉換、結合了台灣民間信仰的神祇，像是踩著風光輪、拿著關刀的「超人力霸王」、或是拉著胡琴的「超人力霸王」，與哥吉拉和怪獸對戰的「超人力霸王」…創造出唯有李俊陽才想得到的「李氏超人力霸王」造型。李俊陽筆下的人物，不論是超偶、英雄，亦或是神仙和怪物，都充滿了幽默與非凡的想像力，祂們老神在在，悠然自得，不為名利所困，不受俗世干擾，這正是李俊陽理想中的生命狀態！
Jiunyang LI (b.1967~ ),
Jiunyang LI, who gave himself the appellation “the marvelous artisan” (a pun on “temple administrator”) is a creative whose life force is unrestrained, like wild vegetation. A native of Taitung born in 1967, he grew up in Hualien city. Completely untouched by orthodox art academy training, he is an entirely self-taught multi-talented artist. Asked about his formative influences, he would surely point to his father, a movie billboard advertisement painter, as well as the “workers” and “tradesmen” in and around his life from a young age, including plumbers and electricians, handymen, temple workers, rebar fasteners, “uncles,” and Earth Gods…
Always good with his hands, he is a quick study at anything he sets his mind to trying. As a youth he once aspired to becoming a motorcycle mechanic, later following in his father’s footsteps to become a billboard painter, as well as learning colorful painting approaches at a temple. While serving in the military he encountered a hand puppeteer, picking up a sculpting knife and carving out wooden puppet heads, as well as teaching himself calligraphy, guitar, huqin and guqin, and even writing poetry and song lyrics with ease. His formal entry into the art realm was when he became an artist-in-residence at the Stock 20 in Taichung. This is where he no longer worked in isolation from the world, instead competing on the same stage as his peers, learning from and motivating one another. As an Asian Cultural Council award winner in 2003 he became an artist-in-residence in New York and the Headlands Art Center in the San Francisco Bay Area, which had a deeper cultural impact on him. He was also an invited exhibiting artist at Kau-Puê, Mutual Companionship in Near Future: 2017 Soulangh International Contemporary Art Festival and Wild Rhizome: the 2018 Taiwan Biennial at the Taiwan National Museum of Fine Arts.
From painting, to colored ink on paper, sculpture to installations, Jiunyang LI derives sustenance from folk beliefs and popular culture in everyday life, the gods and monsters of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the immortals commonly depicted in temple art, Prince Nezha riding his fire wheel, the buck-toothed character in Huang Jun-xiong’s hand puppet theater, or various toys and figurines and heroes collected from flea markets and Japanese comics… In particular, he has incorporated and adapted the Japanese Ultraman character, which he has adored since childhood, and combined it with gods in Taiwanese folk religions, to depict Ultraman riding a fire wheel, holding a green dragon crescent blade, playing a two-stringed huqin, or taking on the monster Godzilla… thus inventing Ultraman characters that only Jiunyang LI could come up with. LI’s characters, from super idols, to heroes, gods or monsters, are full of humor and extraordinary imagination. These gods are vigorous, confident and at ease, untrammeled by fame and fortune, and impervious to worldly conventions. This is Jiunyang LI’s ideal state of life!