Richmond BC, Canada #richmondartgallerybc
Enigmas & Dreams: works on paper by Alvin Jang & Anna Wong offers up a dynamic pairing of two under recognized local Chinese Canadian artists. Alvin Jang’s (b. 1950) sense of the surreal streams through his sci-fi-inspired series The Colony, depicting a colourful world overrun by a dense population of worms, and Pillow Talk, evoking a hallucinatory series of dreams, rendered in a hyper-realistic style. A selection of abstract drawings by artist Anna Wong (b. 1930–d. 2013) from the late 1960s brings to light the hybridity of her visual vernacular, which marries the gesturality of Chinese brush painting with the experimental mark making of Abstract Expressionism.
Enigmas & Dreams also features a specially commissioned title wall by Brother Jopa, a Vancouver-based lettering artist, designer, and muralist, who specializes in hand-drawn typography and calligraphy.
About the Artists:
Alvin Ngai Ping Jang 鄭毅鵬 is a Chinese-Canadian artist who has spent the past 57 years working across drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture in Vancouver and Richmond. He graduated from the Vancouver School of Art specializing in painting and printmaking. He has maintained a daily studio practice since the early 70s. He has illustrated books and has exhibited locally and internationally; selected exhibitions include Alpha Gallery, Ottawa; the Guanshanyue Gallery in Shenzhen, China; and Kaiping Art Museum in Kaiping, China. Alvin currently lives and works from his home studio in Steveston, BC.
Canadian artist and master printmaker Anna Wong 黃綽英 (b. 1930–d. 2013) was born and raised in Vancouver, BC, Canada. In her teenage years and early twenties, Wong worked at her family’s business, Modernize Tailors (established in 1913), a thriving fixture in Vancouver’s Chinatown. After a year of studying Chinese brush painting in Hong Kong, Wong entered full-time studies at the Vancouver School of Art, graduating with a degree in creative printmaking. She went on to study, and then to teach, at the Pratt Graphics Center in New York City, where she remained on the faculty for nearly two decades. In the 60s and 70s, her original prints received numerous prizes, and she represented Canada in multiple international print biennials.
Brother Jopa is a calligrapher and visual artist with over a decade of experience in hand lettering and gestural mark-making. Initially rooted in the discipline of classical calligraphy, his work has evolved into an expressive and intuitive practice that blurs the boundary between letterform and abstraction. With a profound respect for rhythm, form, and flow, Jopa’s pieces are equal parts control and surrender—allowing the brush, the body, and the moment to guide the outcome. His work becomes a vessel for memory, inviting viewers to reflect on past emotions and the fleeting nature of human experience. Based in Vancouver, Jopa continues to explore the expressive potential of calligraphic mark-making across both his studio practice and public art work.
