Richmond Art Gallery presents two new summer exhibitions from now until Aug. 24. Curated by Rebecca Wang, The Roaming Peach Blossom Spring features Qiu Anxiong (Shanghai) and Howie Tsui (Vancouver) who find inspiration in ancient mythology and martial arts fiction. Curated by Zoë Chan, Enigmas & Dreams: Works on Paper by Alvin Jang & Anna Wong highlights two under-recognized local Chinese Canadian artists whose radically differing works embrace experimentation, improvisation, and the unconscious.

“The Roaming Peach Blossom Spring brings together for the first time the work of two contemporary artists that draw on the cultural legacy of the Song dynasty (960–1279), a period widely regarded as the pinnacle of artistic achievement in Chinese history,” says Wang.

“Richmond provides a unique context for this exhibition, as more than half of its population consists of Chinese immigrants and people of Chinese descent. While the cultural references may particularly resonate with the Chinese community, the compelling visual language offers an enriching experience for all visitors, as the works speak to prevalent global issues such as urbanization, ecological loss, and diaspora.”

Qiu Anxiong draws on the aesthetic and philosophical sensibilities of Song dynasty court and literati painting in his animated films, which adapt the earliest encyclopedic cosmography, Classic of Mountains and Seas (c. 400 BCE–200 CE). The exhibition will mark the first time all three films in his major series The New Book of Mountains and Seas (2006–2017) will be presented together in Canada.

Howie Tsui transposes the wuxia (martial arts fiction) world into his paintings, lightboxes, and videos. Gif Roulette (2020–ongoing) and Jumbo (2024)—both debuting in Vancouver—draw on looping fragments from the films and animations that shaped his youth, and extend the wuxia realm to the now-sunken floating restaurant Jumbo Kingdom in Hong Kong. Presenting the two artists’ distinct practices and perspectives, The Roaming Peach Blossom Spring explores the cultural complexity within shared ethnic identity and encourages dialogue across its diverse subgroups.

Enigmas & Dreams: Works on Paper by Alvin Jang & Anna Wong pair the work of two local artists. Alvin Jang presents two sci-fi-inspired series: The Colony (1982), which depicts a colourful world overrun by a dense population of worms, and Pillow Talk (2000), which evokes the surreal realities of hallucinations, dreams, and fantasies. These are accompanied by a series of abstract drawings and prints from the late 1960s, by the late Anna Wong. Bringing to light the hybridity of her visual vernacular, Wong’s work reveals the lively gesturality of Chinese brush painting and the experimental mark-making of Abstract Expressionism.

“I wanted to curate an exhibition that would work well in conversation with The Roaming Peach Blossom, and was drawn to both Alvin Jang and Anna Wong for their focus on drawings and their instinctive way of working,” says Chan.

“Alvin and Anna seem compelled to create through the relinquishment of logic, using each work instead to further experiment and play, rather than to stick to restricted, circumscribed paths. Eschewing straightforward interpretation, these enigmatic works resist fixed structures or finality in a really exciting way.”

She adds, “As deeply dedicated artists, both deserve much more recognition for their unique art-making and aesthetics. Jang has maintained a daily studio practice from his home in Steveston since the 1970s, while Wong, who grew up in Vancouver’s Chinatown, studied and taught at the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York for several years.”

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.