Tokyo-based digital artist Lu Yang has manifested a spiritual and comical universe filled with sprawling neon gods, humorous self-referential avatars as well as Buddhist iconography littering tumultuous video-game spaces. Taking advantage of all the latest technology at their disposal and fusing them with their love for Japanese culture, gyaru style and comic books, Yang has created a body of work that is pulsating with energy and creativity.

While the idea that artists create their own universes often gets bandied around in media, glorifying them beyond their achievements, to say that Yang has accomplished such a feat wouldn’t be an overstatement in the slightest.

GATA recently took the chance to meet the artist and dive deeper into the mind of this unique talent. A mind that seems intent on fusing the lines between the real world and the digital one. A world of spiritual reincarnation through digital representation.

GATA: Hello Lu Yang, can you please introduce yourself to the GATA team?

Lu Yang: Hi, I’m Lu Yang, an artist who recently moved to Tokyo.

GATA: What piqued your interest in art and how did you begin your career?

Lu Yang: I've always loved drawing and making comics since I was a kid, and I like to immerse myself in creating my own world, but I never thought about becoming an artist. I did some work in college and had a gallery sign me up and it turned into a career but it was all just chance and coincidence.

我从小就喜欢画画，画漫画，喜欢沉浸于创造属于自己的世界，但也没有想过要成为一名艺术家，大学的时候做了点作品有画廊签约合作后，就变成职业了，一切都是机缘巧合。

GATA: What drew you to using metaphysical art as your main medium?

Lu Yang: I really like the core of everything, all the mediums that encase my work are just packaging, I like to package my work to attract more people into the world I create, and when people look at my work through these packages they really get into the metaphysical part of the core of all the work. I am very fond of Buddhism, philosophy, and all kinds of wisdom that help me understand the world. I will incorporate my thoughts about the world into my work.

我非常喜欢所有事物中的核心，所有包裹我自己作品的媒介只是一个包装，我喜欢包装自己的作品吸引更多人进入自己创造的世界中，当人们通过这些包装看进我的作品时，才会真正进入都作品的核心的形而上的部分。我非常喜欢佛学，哲学，以及各种能帮助我理解这个世界的智慧。我会把对于这个世界的思考植入进自己的作品中。

“I’m a creator, I just do whatever I want to do.”

— Lu Yang

GATA: Your work often portrays topics concerning living organisms, death, and disease as well as religious matters, why are you drawn to such topics? Do you consider yourself to be a religious person?

Lu Yang: I don't know why I'm so fascinated by these things, it's very much like the Buddhist way of contemplation, "Impermanence", "Impurity", "White Bone", etc. I think the process of making my work is my own way of an "impermanence view" and "impurity view" because making artwork is the most immersive thing in my life. I think of myself as a seeker, but in the process of searching, the Buddha's teachings have given me a lot of answers, so I've been very inspired and influenced and in understanding the spiritual wisdom of different wise and holy people, I can find a lot of common parts in them.

我也不知道为什么自己会对这些事物如此着迷，这很像佛教中的一种观修方式“无常观”“不净观”“白骨观”等，通过把所有的事物都观想为幻灭，而升起一种出离心，我想我做作品的过程就是我自己的“无常观”和“不净观”的方式，因为做作品是我生命中最能让我最为沉浸的事物。我认为自己是一个探索者，但是在探索的过程中，佛陀的教导给了我很多答案，所以我很收到启发和影响，而且在对于不同智者圣者的精神智慧的了解下，可以发现他们中很多共通的部分。

GATA: What do you hope people who experience your work feel or take from it?

Lu Yang: I don't really think about the audience's reaction to my work and I don't expect their feedback—the opinion of others is uncontrollable—but I believe in the principle of sympathetic resonance; hearts with the same frequency will always resonate.

我不太会去思考观众对我作品的反应，也不会期待这些反馈，他人是不可控的，但我相信同频共振的原理，拥有相同频率的心总是会达到共鸣。

“I think the process of making works is my own way of “impermanence” and “impurity” because making art is the most immersive thing in my life. ”

— Lu Yang

GATA: As we discussed before you often delve into the deep themes of religion and science, but these are often contrasted with elements of kawaii culture. We heard that you're a fan of Japanese culture. Is the presentation of this contrast your way of expressing your interest in this culture?

Lu Yang: The way I do my work is like making packages for the core parts, and attracting people who don't care about those core parts to come in through the packages. So I'll use the means of expression that I really like to do these packages, and I'll be more involved and have more fun doing them because of my own passion. I've been reading manga since I was a kid, and I've got some deep content from a lot of manga, so it's the same thing with kawaii or pop culture, it's just a means to an end, a surface, and a package.

就像我在之前的问题中提到过，我做作品的方式就像是给最核心的部分做一些包装，吸引原本对这些核心内容并没不在意的人通过包装来进入。所以我会用自己本身就很喜欢的一些表现手段去做这些包装，而且会因为自己的热情做这些包装的时候更投入觉得更有趣。我从小就很爱看漫画，并且从不少漫画作品中得到一些很深刻的内容，所以一样的道理，所谓的kawaii或者流行文化，这些只是手段，表象，以及包装而已。

GATA: We read that growing up you often spent more time customizing your game characters do you think this was a sign for your future of becoming a creator?

Lu Yang: Yes, all my works in the last few years have been made using game engines, and I feel the joy of creating my own worlds in the process of making games. Indeed, I prefer creating my own game worlds to playing games, and game character settings, worldview settings, etc. are all part of the fun.

The worldview can be better conveyed and expressed through character creation. And since I was a child, my love and familiarity with all kinds of characters have made me very accustomed to creating in this way.

是的，我最近几年的作品都是用游戏引擎制作的，我在制作游戏的过程中感受到了自己创建世界的快乐，确实比起玩游戏，我更喜欢自己创造游戏世界，游戏角色设定，世界观设定等都是其中的一个乐趣，通过创建角色能更好的传达和表现世界观。而且从小耳濡目染，对于各种角色的喜爱和熟悉让我非常习惯的用这个方式去创作。

GATA: Of everything you do and create, what's the thing you enjoy the most?

Lu Yang: I'm very immersed in conceptualising my work, and I like to go to the seaside to meditate and sit alone, so one of the advantages of moving to Tokyo is that I can easily go to the seaside. I like the cliffs by the sea, and when I sit alone and conceptualise my own universe, it's like connecting to a higher universe and resonating with the universe, which is an unparalleled joy.

我非常沉浸于构想作品，喜欢一个人去海边冥想静坐，所以搬去东京的一大好处也是因为可以很方便去海边，喜欢悬崖边的大海，一个人坐在那边构想自己的宇宙的时候就像是在连接高纬宇宙，和宇宙产生共振，这是无与伦比的快乐。

GATA: At GATA we believe that cinema has been one of the main sources of inspiration for many artists; are there any movies that have inspired your work?

Lu Yang: I feel okay about films, I casually watch a little, but I’m not obsessed with the medium, I more enjoy reading books than watching films. About the films I like, I very much like sci-fi, especially Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.

我对于电影的感觉还好，平时随便看一点，但是不是痴迷的状态，比较喜欢看书胜过看电影，关于喜欢的电影的话，非常喜欢看科幻片，最喜欢的科幻片是诺兰的星际穿越（interstellar）

*Lu Yang: Human Machine Reverse Motion Capture Project (Copyright © Lu Yang, 2019)*

Edit/Photos by James Elliott

Follow GATA magazine

LU YANG: Art from the Digital Depths