Hearts

At an exhibition for which I was the curator, entitled Painting Rebellion held at Beijing´s 798 Space in 2007, Jiri Straka held one of his first performances when he painted "Heart". At that time, on a sheet of paper measuring two by three meters right inside the gallery, he depicted a pig´s heart as an analogy to the Buddhist and Traditional Chinese concept of the heart. In China, the heart has a strong spiritual significance connected with perceiving and understanding the world. By using an animal heart, in his interpretation this traditional concept extended beyond the realms of the human race.

Shu Yang