A PAINTING, “Flying Machine”, (1994) – worth about $800,000 – by Chinese artist Zhang Peili, has been given by Lois Conner to The Australian National University and will be displayed for the first time as part of an exhibition based on the artist’s works which span from the 1980s to the present day.

“Zhang Peili: from Painting to Video”, developed with MAAP director Kim Machan, opens today at the ANU Centre on China in the World,and  also showcases a video installation from the late 1990s and a custom-made LED work commissioned in 2010. The painting is one of Zhang Peili’s last

“The exhibition highlights the cultural relationship between China and Australia as well as the development and role of art in China in the 1990s, which was a challenging time in the political and social space,” says Benjamin Penny, director of the ANU Centre on China in the World. The exhibition is a partnership between the Australia-China Council (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade), Media Art Asia Pacific and ANU.

“Zhang Peili: from Painting to Video,”Australian Centre on China in the World, Building 188, Fellows Lane, ANU. Gallery Hours: Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm

                                                                                                                                        Selected weekends: 11am–3pm: 27–28 August, 8–9 October,12–13 November