I love Japanese woodblock prints.

She had the most beautiful dress and was my daughter’s favorite. The evil looking puppet with the thin long mustache is a very very close second, but he is not pictured here.

Chao Shao-an’s work is so original for Asian brushwork. Every painting takes my breath away

…of the visual poetry of color and patterns. It has both rhythym and rhyme. The cadence is like a mountain stream flowing over snow embankments, alongside Fall trees as yet untouched. What grace the dancer has, what mastery in the artist to evoke the sense of seasons changing, the dance and nature’s flow.

I love Liu Guosong’s work and especially one so celestial in nature. It’s both moody and otherworldly and I can’t get enough of it. There’s a great amount of longing in this one.

It’s difficult to pick a favorite at the Asian (so many to choose from), so when in doubt, choose something that’s made of people. Westerners have reverence and fear of the dead. Tibet has no such qualms about our ephemeral existence, and will happily make you into a jug when you’re finished here.

National Living Treasure Fujiwara Yu (1932 – 2001) lends his own 20th century sensibility to this classic sake bottle (tokkuri), hand potted in the 12th century Bizen tradition. Its surface is sandy, cracked and entirely unglazed; this natural quality exemplifies the wabisabi aesthetic and is a gentle reminder of our impermanence and that nothing stays the same. Rosanjin, a famous Japanese epicurean potter once said, “If clothes make the person, then dishes make the food.” Without question, I’d raise a glass to Fujiwara Yu; the tokkuri makes the sake. Kampai!

Dope!

It has a perfect color, proportion, etc. So simple, elegant and beautiful!

Love the whimsical nature of this animal that is able to walk on land, fly in the skies and swim in the water. Plus it has a function as a ritual vessal. You can tell the anonymous artisan who created it had the technical know how as well as a sense of humor.