The Chinese-Australian artist Jun Chen photographs Tania Peitzker
a muse and love story from 1992 in Melbourne
After numerous years of being a finalist in the famous Archibald Portrait competition, Jun Chen has a work in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. The well-known ballet dancer and QLD Ballet director, Li Cunxin of “Mao’s Last Dancer” fame (his autobiography then filmed) is the subject of the portrait commissioned by the National Gallery.
Chen has had 20 solo exhibitions in Australia to date. He has been a finalist in the Archibald nine times (he was highly commended in 2017 for his portrait of the late gallerist Ray Hughes), and a finalist in the Wynne and Sulman prizes five times apiece.
Chen’s work can be found in numerous public collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Parliament House, Canberra; and the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, which commissioned him to paint Chinese-Australian former ballet dancer Li Cunxin AO, now artistic director of the Queensland Ballet.
Chen’s work is also held in the collections of Shen Zhen Guan Shan-yue Art Museum, Shenzhen, China; Guangzhou Art Gallery, China; Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China; Art College of Sweden and in private collections in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia.
Sophie Gannon Gallery introduction, retrieved 13.01.2024
