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Janaka Stagnaro's avatar

I guess I have expensive taste. The high-end works are amazing. Thanks for sharing, Paul.

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Paul Dotta's avatar

The really old and technical stuff is next week. ☺️🙏

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Gregory Ripley's avatar

Love this. The first shop reminded me of the Caganer figurines of Catalonia. The second gallery was spectacular.

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Paul Dotta's avatar

Thank you, Gregory, I googled that and so glad I did. 😂😂 Her work is incredible, yet still a "student" of the masters. We meet them next week! 🙏

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Nico Ranng's avatar

This was such a great piece, Paul. There’s something so compelling about their mix of humour, history, and humanity. The evolution from affordable gifts to gallery-level art says a lot about the staying power of the tradition. Those firecracker boys are brilliant! Looking forward to part 2.

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Paul Dotta's avatar

Thank you, Nico, its interesting to look closely at art, businesses, ideas that have persisted for as long as this has, six generations. There must be something timeless that keeps the appeal.

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Debbie Liu's avatar

Ahhh... thank you for this lovely post in tribute to Clay Zhang Paul. I've been waiting for this post and it doesn't disappoint! I brought out two of my figures when you mentioned you were going to write it. Such found memories - I loved these clay figures when I was in Tianjin and bought quite a few. the people I gifted some too really didn't appreciate the level of craft that went into them. And yes, thats Shou Xing at the top, the God of the Celestial Southern Pole, holding his long-life peach. Looking forward to the next installment of Clay Zhang!

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Paul Dotta's avatar

Thank you Debbie, wait until next week! So excited. There’s some bits of a documentary in YouTube that gives a lot of info on how they prepare the material, what goes into carving and drying, etc. Each piece takes a lot of time to create. 🙏

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Debbie Liu's avatar

Look forward to learning more about it Paul! they truly are extraordinary!!

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