Renowned sculptor opens gallery in Jingdezhen (1/6)

Combination photo taken on Oct. 25, 2012 shows ceramic sculptures of the fifth to the eighth Chinese zodiac animals, i.e. (clockwise) the Chinese dragon, the snake, the horse and the sheep, created by renowned sculptor Zhou Guozhen, in Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province. Mr. Zhou was born in 1931 in the countryside of Anren County, central China's Hunan Province. After he graduated from the sculpture department of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1954, Mr. Zhou relinquished the opportunity to work as a faculty member in Beijing and left for Jingdezhen, dubbed "China's porcelain capital", to pursue his artistic career, despite tougher living conditions at the time. Mr. Zhou has been probing into the coordination of earth and fire for more than five decades. His works, embodying the beauties of oriental mysticism, are characterized by the rich variation in both expression techniques and glazing materials. (Xinhua)