Founded in 2006 as an artist agency based in Richmond, BC, Capulet Art Gallery (soon to be called the Seng Art Gallery) is committed to representing artists to give them a space to show their creative works to the public.
Seng Art Gallery is a bohemian-style art gallery and framing shop that started in 2006. The gallery's mandate has been to showcase talented hidden artwork by amazing artists to the public by making art accessible through art exhibitions and live art performances throughout the city. The addition of a framing shop was to offer affordable picture framing to the public so that more art could be put on walls without having to pay an arm and a leg.
Bio
Kevan Seng started Capulet Art in 2006 as an artist representation agency with the focus of showing the hidden gems of the art world to the public. He is also the co-founder of Golden Brush Art Events and is one of the producers of the “Battle of the Brush” live painting competition. Kevan focuses on promoting the works of Canadian artists including Raymond Chow, Norveau Morrisseau, and Jose Urbay specializing in artwork of abstract and figurative nature.
Seng met Raymond Chow, a long-time Vancouver artist icon, by chance at a bus stop in Richmond, BC in 2006. Two days later, they met, again, at Raymond’s gallery warehouse. Due to his awe and admiration for Chow’s artwork, Seng decided to pursue a life in the Arts as an artist agent under Chow’s training.
From there, Kevan created historic Chinatown calendars, art cards, and the Golden Brush Painting Competition, now called the “Battle of the Brush“. Kevan is also the immediate pas president of the Vancouver Chinatown Lions Club and he has held offices as high as zone chairperson in Lions Club 19 A-1, overseeing 17 Lions Clubs in the Vancouver region. He spends most of his free time helping with Lions Club fundraisers and community service events in Vancouver.
Raymond Chow, Artist/Mentor
Raymond Chow introduced the Arts to Kevan in 2006, and since then, they have formed a strong friendship and partnership where Raymond provides the artwork and Kevan markets and sells the artwork.
Raymond Chow is an internationally renowned artist based in Vancouver, Canada. He won his early recognition in his teenage years when many art dealers would come knocking on his parent’s door with cash in hand, eager to buy a Raymond Chow drawing.
In the mid-1950’s, Raymond began his art career drawing black ink drawings of Vancouver’s buildings. His drawings sold for around $50 in the 1950’s, artwork created by his favorite 25 cent ball point pen.
Throughout his career, Raymond has met many public figureheads who have commissioned him for paintings. Some include Clint Eastwood, Sunny and Cher, and Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia.
Other collector’s include Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Paul Anka, Raymond Burr, Gordon Lightfoot, and David Lam. His works are in the collections of Touche Ross, Scott Paper, the Variety Club, and MacMillan Bloedel, to name a few.
Raymond Chow exhibits with some of the most prominent contemporary artists in the world including AJ Casson, Andrew Wyeth, and many more. He has a lengthy art career of over 50 years where his artwork has gone from art galleries across Canada to as far as the Royal Palace of India in Rajasthan. Now, he enjoys his time traveling in Eastern Canada and supporting the Arts.
It all started at a bus stop in 2006...
Excuse me, Sir, do you have change for a $10?
In 2006, Kevan Seng (24) met Raymond Chow (65) at a bus stop in Richmond, BC. That day, Kevan was on his way into Richmond with his father to pick up a van but due to the snowy weather condition, that did not happen. So, Kevan’s father decided to visit a friend in the nearby area, instead. This did not seem too exciting for Kevan, so, he decided to venture off and take the bus home. As he was walking away, he noticed he didn’t have any bus change. Instead of walking back to his father to get some change he decided to just continue walking to find the nearest bus stop and to ask the first person he saw for change for a $10 bill. As he neared the bus stop, he noticed a gentlemen wearing a hat, an interesting coat, and a pair of cowboy boots. This would be the person Kevan would ask for change for his $10 bill.
“Excuse me, Sir, would you happen to have change for a $10?” asked Kevan.
The gentleman didn’t have any extra change on him but suggested that Kevan cross the street to a corner store for some. After that, Kevan came back to the bus stop and thanked him. They exchanged business cards and this was when Kevan realized that this gentleman was, indeed, famous. The business card read “Raymond Chow”, artist. They continued chatting while waiting for the bus, and when the bus came, they sat together and chatted some more, getting to know one another. Raymond invited Kevan to his gallery and Kevan said he would come by one of these days. After the bus, they parted ways and agreed to meet again at Raymond’s gallery.
A couple days later
A couple days later, Raymond phoned Kevan to follow up on his invitation to visit his gallery. It was the first time Kevan had ever received an invitation to an art gallery, so, he accepted the invitation and visited Raymond’s gallery the next day.
When Kevan left to visit Raymond’s gallery, he had a bit of difficulty finding the place. It was located in the industrial part of Richmond, an area Kevan seldom traveled to. After circling around a couple times, Kevan found the gallery reading the bold sign “Raymond Chow Art Gallery”. His first thoughts were, “Why is an art gallery in the middle of nowhere?”.
“It felt as though he had walked into a gold mine of hidden gems”
Kevan parked his car and walked towards the door of the gallery. He buzzed the door and Raymond came down to open the door for Kevan. He greeted Kevan and welcomed him to his gallery. Now, the gallery is in the industrial part of Richmond, so after opening the door, there was a set up steps towards the second floor where the two walked up towards.
This was when Kevan noticed a beautiful display of drawings and paintings on both sides of the wall up the stairs. It felt as though he had walked into a gold mine of hidden gems tucked away in the industrial part of Richmond. In fact, it took him about 10 minutes before reaching the top of the stairs because he was admiring all of the artwork on the way up. It was as if he was walking back in time with each additional step passing from one decade to the next. There were works from the ’60s, 70’s, and 80’s, like a glimpse throughout time in Vancouver.
Once Kevan reached the top of the stairs, he noticed a stack of drawings on the floor. He walked towards the drawings and picked them up, finding that they were drawings of Vancouver Chinatown. Suddenly, he had the idea to create a calendar from the drawings. After speaking to Raymond about it, this would become his first project in the Arts.
The Chinatown Calendar
The Chinatown Calendars took 6 months to create. Kevan asked his friend, Ed Lee, to help him with the computer design of the calendar and to also teach him how to use photoshop. This process took 4 months. After creating the first black and white copy of the calendar, Kevan visited the Chapters bookstore in Richmond with his friend, Christian Buschner. They asked for the manager of the store and showed the raw-looking calendar with a story of why the calendar would be a great sell that year.
This calendar was a 16-month 2007 calendar with drawings of buildings in Vancouver Chinatown. There were short stories and neat information about the buildings that were collected from old-timers in the area. It also happened to be the 100 year anniversary of Chinese Canadian Change, and because of that, the calendar was featured in the Ming Pao Newspaper and the Ricepaper Magazine. M-Channel News also sent a film crew to interview Raymond and Kevan about the calendar. Because of the whole centennial celebration, the calendars were sold throughout many Chapters bookstores throughout the lower mainland in Vancouver, BC.
Chapters
With the calendars selling in Chapters, Kevan got an offer from Mike, the general manager of Chapters on Broadway and Granville. Mike said, “Kevan, if you ever have an event you’d like to have here, just let me know and I’ll put it through.”
A couple year’s later…
Kevan came up with an idea! It would be a 3 day consecutive event on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday where 3 artists would come in each day to create a painting. The painting would, then, be raffled off to a lucky winner and all the monies would be donated to the Love of Reading Foundation, Chapter’s charity of choice.
Day 1 – Friday October 17, 2008
Raymond Chow, Ron Sombilon, and Arlana Green came to Chapters with Kevan to create a 3 hour painting. The canvas was 36×48 inches stretched over a 3/4 inch wooden stretcher. The group brought the canvas, paints, drop sheets, easel, and other supplies into Chapters. The people around watched and waited to see what would happen. After setting up the area, the three began painting. Kevan noticed that the people around would stop and stare after walking into Chapters. People outside would peek through the glass windows to see what was going on. This was to be the first spectacle of what would be known as the Battle of the Brush.
After 10 minutes, Kevan’s legs started to get tired, so, he was about to sit down when he noticed some senior citizens. They were standing just as long as he, and without any motion to sit down. If they could handle it, Kevan could, as well. An hour passed. More people formed an arc around the artists, watching to see what they would create. As the night fell upon the group, Kevan noticed the rain and wind outside. People waiting for the bus would peek through the windows to see the live painting and after Kevan motioned to them to come inside to watch, they would wave that they were simply fine watching from outside in the cold. This was when the lightbulb inside Kevan’s head came on. It would seem that people were interested in watching live art being created. This was the beginning of the Golden Brush Live Painting Competition, now, known as, the Battle of the Brush.
Soon After
With the art calendars and live paintings in Chapters, Kevan soon dabbled in the print market creating art prints and cards from Raymond Chow’s artwork. The prints and cards found their way into Chapters throughout the Vancouver region. Word spread about the art cards and shortly after, Kevan was contacted by the London Galleries to create art cards from a collection of works they owned by Norval Morrisseau. This collection known as the “Edwards Collection” would be created into art cards and sold to the Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Canada, and other major galleries and collections throughout North America.
The Battle of the Brush Begins
After Chapters, Kevan created the Golden Brush Live Painting Competition with a partner and they held their first show at the Elliot Louis Gallery in Vancouver. There were 5 teams with 3 artists per team and they painted for 60 minutes. The winning team was decided by the highest bid for each painting, and that night, the winning team was Raymond Chow, Arlana Green, and Ron Sombilon. They created an abstract painting titled "Collaboration". This became the second "Collaboration" painting in a series of 3 that were all sold.
A second Golden Brush Live Painting Competition was held about half a year later and it was at this event where Kevan was offered a partnership with a new partner, Jwon Suh. They went for Japanese food after the event and this was where Jwon said that he wanted to be partners with Kevan in the live painting competition. Kevan told Jwon that he already had a partner but if things were to change, Jwon would be the first person Kevan would contact. A week later, Kevan's current partner at the time called him for a meeting. She told him that he wanted out of the partnership. So, they dissolved the partnership, and soon after, Kevan reached out to Jwon where they began their new business registered as Golden Brush Art Events. They had their first show together which was titled "Spring" and held at the Old Mill Boathouse in Port Moody, BC.
After the show, Kevan and Jwon had a meeting with three artists, Bill Higginson, Jenny Hughes, and Nick Goulet at a bar in English Bay in downtown Vancouver, BC. Kevan was chatting with Jenny when they were thinking of a new name for the show. They came up with the Battle of the Brush. From here, the name of the show was changed and has stuck since.
Fast forward about ten years and the two are currently planning the 39th Battle fo the Brush which was scheduled in 2020 but because of Covid, the show has been postponed.