Zhao Zhao’s new series is inspired by an inadvertent discovery of scattered rat droppings on the floor when he was moving. They were incorporated into his work after he examined it through socio-capitalistic market perspective and through anti-corrosion treatment. Unlike Manzoni’s containment of excrement, the droppings are open and visible and one of them is carefully framed on the mirror. The rest, 5113 pieces, can be sold. Due to the influence of fengshui on the Chinese, the excrement has been combined according to a unique numerical logic – the price of each piece is determined by good luck or bad omen numbers. Here the animal’s waste and production are associated with human’s desire of sustainable productivity. Moreover, there are two series of paintings that stem from the unchanging interest in rats. Even though the form adheres to the actual object, however, they’ve eventually become abstract works with complex aesthetic style.

(Su Wenxiang, 51㎡ Project: 1#Zhao Zhao, 2009[Excerpt])