Discussing how this came to pass, Yang Mao-lin explains his own journey: Before the lifting of martial law he employed traditional Chinese parables to oppose authoritarianism. Amidst the street movements, he felt that the pioneering strength of character that he had always been looking for finally appeared. "That was the first time I ever felt the excitement of painting," states Yang.
為何會有此顯學，楊茂林提起他的歷程：解嚴前他就一直以中國神話去反抗制式威權，在街頭運動力量中，他覺得他不停在尋找的、屬於渡海墾拓的強悍性格終於出現了，「那是我第一次感到作畫的興奮」，揚茂林表示。