In this small acrylic painting we witness tennis superstar Novak Djokovic expressing the historic yearnings of his native Serbia by engaging in an impromptu dance of freedom. Removing his blue (sadness) shirt, Novak abandon

s the chiseled visage of his puzzled anthropomorphic chest to the unexpected presence on the knee of a Palatschinkenkačamakalabrcabnokvomiplăcintămesk, a pancake shaped maze polenta with sharpened syrup wings; a delicious break-fast used traditionally for greeting and/or genocide. Behind the gaze of his beady nipple eyes, Novak holds forth in his outstretched 'soul' two lime green tennis balls, a graceful gesture which defuses the implied threat of the dangerous pancake. This completes the static theme of 2 (balls, buns, syrup wings, nipple eyes) which in repetition creates a tension which can only be released by sacrifice of the 1 artificial State (Serbia/shirt of sadness/ego). Still, the liberation erupting from the top part of the image remains dependent upon the delicate ballet maintained below. The viewer remains unsure of whether the painting is visually unified as a result of this tension, or, like Novak Djokovic's phenomenal success on the tennis court, is a result of micro bouts of religious ecstasy induced during moments of self induced asphyxiation while disrobing.

This is a painting of Serbian tennis great Novak Djokovic ripping off his shirt at the recent Australian open while balancing a pancake on his knee-