Artist: Pei Pei He 

Title: Citified No. 5 

Size: 80 x 120 cm

Material: Oil on canvas 

Year: 2013

Born in Shanghai, Pei Pei was forced to leave the city for the Jiangxi countryside for reeducation at the age of 16. Her early art training started at the end of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s when she was able to take up an opportunity to study visual art in China. Arriving in Australia in 1987, Pei Pei returned to her art education in 2005, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) from Victoria College of the Arts, the University of Melbourne in 2010.

Pei Pei is fascinated by the rhythm and movement of city life and the spirituality of human beings in the crowded urban space. Her unique painting style is a blend of Eastern and Western elements, the calligraphic brushstrokes bringing a sense of quietude to mind while channeling a unique momentum.

Pei Pei has been involved with an array of prestigious art prizes and exhibitions including: the Sulman Prize 2013, John Lesley Prize 2012, Dobell Prize 2011, Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize 2011 and the Wynne Prize 2009. She also received the People’s Choice Prize in the Sunshine Coast Art Prize in 2011. Pei Pei’s works have been collected and displayed in private and public spaces, including the City of Melbourne and Art Bank. Pei Pei is represented by Nellie Castan Gallery in Melbourne, where she currently lives and works..