Gene Blocker, Ph.D., is a professor of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art at Ohio University. He began collecting antique art during his thirty years of teaching and research in West Africa, Central America, and China. The focus of his research has been on ancient art; artifacts which were originally made and used for ceremonial, ritual, and religious purposes.  As a philosopher of art, Professor Blocker has been interested in the problems of cross-cultural understanding involved whenever we treat as art what others regarded in some other way. Much of this was published in his book, The Aesthetics of Primitive Art. Pieces forming his collection have appeared in numerous books on art and in art exhibitions. It is out of his extensive collection that Professor Blocker has begun the Chinese Antique Art internet business.

Recently, Dr. Blocker's daughter, Forrest Blocker, Ph.D., has joined Chinese Antique Art as its Director. Dr. Forrest Blocker has had a life long interest in Ancient and Tribal Art. She has accompanied her father throughout central America, China, and West Africa since childhood. She has assisted Dr. Gene Blocker in collecting pieces for this gallery and for his private collection of African and Precolumbian Art.
		Photo by Mo Kaluta