SHORT TAKES : Deng’s Daughter Exhibiting Art

The artist daughter of Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping, whose work was described by one Chinese official as “just average,” is in Tokyo to publicize an exhibition of her paintings.

The 13-day exhibition opening Tuesday at a gallery in Tokyo could earn Deng Lin, 49, an estimated $300,000.

Deng started painting in 1959, graduated from the Central Arts College in Beijing in 1967 and held her first overseas exhibition in Japan and New York in 1979. Her favorite Western painter is Van Gogh.

“Her standard is just average, not outstanding,” a Chinese official at a publicity gathering said. “If she were not the daughter of her father, none of us would be here.”