Zhou Guozhen is a professor at Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in Jiangxi Province, China. He graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1954. He is the director of the China Artists Association, a consultant of the Sculpture Committee of the China Arts and Crafts Association, the chairman of the Jiangxi Branch of the China Arts and Crafts Association, the chairman of the Jiangxi Sculpture Association, the honorary chairman of the Jingdezhen Artists Association, the director general of the Kaolin Ceramics Society, and the judge in the evaluation of Chinese Arts and Crafts Masters.

Playing the “symphony of clay and fire” for more than 40 years, he has created unique language and spirit of the times for modern Chinese ceramics. The work Animal World is his sincere dedication, offering ingenuity for a childish heart and a mirror of human affairs for a thinker. Variety of expression techniques and diversity of materials is another important feature of his ceramic works. Different craftsmanship and different materials reveal different themes and distinctive ceramic individuality. Historical and pure beauty of his works manifests the philosophical beauty of modern Eastern mysticism. He has held more than ten solo exhibitions in Shanghai Museum of Art, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Sichuan Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Institute for Promotion of Chinese Culture, etc. and many joint exhibitions in Macau, Singapore and other places. Many of his works are collected by China National Arts & Crafts Museum, Art Museum of Hong Kong and individuals at home and abroad. Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House and the Hong Kong Institute for Promotion of Chinese Culture have published albums for him. Three international celebrity centers in the United Kingdom and the United States listed him as a “world celebrity”. In 1992, the International Biographical Center, Cambridge granted him the “Medal of the Century” in 1992. His personal biography was included in the World Famous Chinese Writers and Artists in 1997.

Zhou Guozhen’s works are full of romance in paintings, and the funny titles make his works more compelling.

The works created by Zhou Guozhen in the 1950s are in the obscure period. The works express low-level straightforwardness and simplicity, and childlikeness and intuition.

During the period of beauty, Zhou Guozhen’s works manifest his pursuit of perfection of shape language and form, and gorgeous glazing effect in the 1960s. The works of this period tend to reflect the soul, form, reason and fun.

In the period of ancient style, Zhou Guozhen has begun to turn his artistic vision to the culture of remote Northwest China since the 1980s. Based on the local consciousness, he shaped an animal world full of humanity.

The new expression period starts after 1985, and the works in this period emphasize the externalization of his self-spirit. The use of coarse ceramic materials has fundamentally improved the look of his works.