This early version from Yang Jiechang's 'Stranger than
Paradise' series transforms the European paradise tradition by applying
classical Chinese painting technique to provocatively reimagined content. The
composition is dominated by a subtle, atmospheric landscape of stratified rock
formations in muted earth tones and blue-greens framing a luminous central
passage. At this threshold, a woman is forcefully taken from behind by a moose,
positioned prominently at the painting's focal point. Tigers, zebras, leopards
and other species are scattered throughout the cliffs and shadows, also engaged
in sexual encounters. Rendered in traditional Chinese painting style on silk,
Yang depicts a visceral paradise where species hierarchies collapse – an
allegory for boundary dissolution and cross-cultural exchange in an
interconnected world.