Jian Liu, born in Shanghai in 1961, was accepted into the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Art at the age of eighteen. At twenty-four, he became a lifelong resident artist at the Traditional Chinese Painting Academy of Shanghai, where he worked alongside many masters of Chinese painting. After participating in several exhibitions in France, Germany, and Italy, Liu chose to settle in Canada in 1989. His work is characterized by bold, rough brushstrokes and vibrant colors, heavily influenced by Western abstract artists such as Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, and Joseph Beuys. Liu’s art reflects a deep understanding of traditional techniques, creating a dreamlike realm through his skillful brushwork. He blends varying shades of ink with bold colors, emphasizing line to merge traditional and abstract styles. Liu’s works are included in numerous collections, including the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto, the Bank of China in Hong Kong, and the Grand Hyatt Hotels in Taiwan and Beijing.

Born in Montréal, Canada (1976), Etienne Zack moved to Vancouver, Canada in 1997. He was based in Los Angeles between 2010 and 2016, and now resides in Washington State, USA. Zack studied at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver (2000), Concordia University (1997) and College St-Laurent in Montreal (1996).

Etienne Zack’s paintings serve as code-like environments where paint, language, text, image, history, and architecture merge. He views painting as a dynamic writing and reading technology, challenging norms, and prompting introspection of our perceptual experiences. Zack’s paintings can be seen through the lens of the painting medium itself, while references to history, literature and architecture are also common terrain. His recent works explore digital spaces, data gathering, and cloud technology’s impact on our memory and concepts of reality.

Noteworthy solo exhibitions include the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Bergen Kunsthall in Norway, Thomas Dane Gallery in England, Surrey Art Gallery in Canada, Esker Foundation in Canada, and Blackwood Gallery at the University of Toronto, Canada. His work has been included in numerous exhibitions at Asia Art Center in Taiwan, Hefei Contemporary Museum, China, Mass MoCA in the USA, National Gallery of Canada, Montréal Museum of Art, The Model Museum in Ireland, Vancouver Art Gallery in Canada, and Norwich Gallery in England, among others.

Zack’s paintings are collected by institutions and museums including the National Gallery of Canada (five works), Art Bank of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery (three works), Montreal Fine Arts Museum, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (two works), National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec, Surrey Art Gallery, Glenbow Museum, City of Montréal, Zabludowicz Collection (London, England) and The Model Museum (Sligo, Ireland) to name a few. His work can also be found in numerous corporate and private collections in the United States, Europe, Scandinavia, Hong Kong, Beijing, Ireland, England and across Canada.

Li Lin Lee was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1955 and immigrated to the US with his family in 1962. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and has exhibited widely throughout the US, including in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. He has collaborated with print workshops such as Crown Point Press in San Francisco, CA, Shark’s Inc. in Boulder, Colorado, and Rong Bao Zhai Woodblock Workshop in Beijing, China. His paintings are included in numerous collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Hallmark Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, as well as the Vera List Foundation, Prudential Insurance, Citibank, the US State Department, and others.

In his artistic process, Lee plays with paint and follows his instincts, letting go of the instinctual need for control. For him, it is exciting to not know what is going to happen next. Each of his works has multiple layers of paint and passages, with a story and questions emerging as the eye excavates the surface. He likes working in small scale, believing that smaller works contain a more concentrated energy that the eye can encompass intimately. Lee hopes his paintings will encourage contemplation and raise questions about time, memory, purpose, suffering, and finally, joy.

Amir Shingray was born in Sudan and later moved to Turkey. He now lives and works in Toronto. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boğaziçi University in Turkey, where he spent six years working in Prof. Gregg Wolf’s studio.

Shingray takes much of his artistic inspiration from childhood memories in Sudan, incorporating elements of African art and culture into his paintings. His brushstrokes are light and fluid, with bold lines and vibrant, intense colors. These qualities reflect the essence of African art and the vitality of life. Shingray’s work often combines abstraction and representation, encouraging viewers to experience a dynamic balance between despair and hope, while exploring humanity’s potential for both beauty and chaos.

Shingray has held solo exhibitions and participated in group shows in Turkey and Canada, including at the French Cultural Centre Art Gallery in Turkey, the Craig Scott Gallery in Canada, and Galeriastist Lab in Istanbul. In 2022, he was invited to exhibit at the Commegena Biennale in Adıyaman, Turkey. Shingray’s works are part of collections across Canada, Europe, and Africa, housed in both institutional and private collections.

Larry Muñoz (b. 1982, Colombia) lives and works between Bogotá, Colombia, and Mexico City, Mexico. He studied Advertising at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogotá. Artistic residencies have played a pivotal role in his development, including the Platform 82 project, hosted by Zilberman Gallery in Berlin in 2024, and the Taohuatan International Artist Residency in Anhui Province, China, in 2023. His work has been exhibited in Turkey, Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, the United States, and Colombia. Notable solo exhibitions include Plural Nodo Cultural in Bogotá, Muntref Ecoparque in Buenos Aires, Beta Gallery in Bogotá, and Jardim do Hermes in São Paulo.

Muñoz’s work explores our relationship with the natural world. Through sculptures, videos, and installations, he combines organic and industrial materials from diverse sources, focusing on small details like flowers, seeds, stones, and insects. His practice examines how our interactions with nature are mediated and defined by media, technology, science, politics, and other structures, highlighting the materiality and fragility of the world around us.

O JUN, born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1956, graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1980 and completed his graduate studies there in 1982. He later taught at the same institution for many years. Primarily working in painting, O JUN uses oils, Japanese pigments, and gouache to depict landscapes and everyday objects. His paintings often feature a childlike simplicity, with objects rendered in bright, vivid colors and simple lines against stark white backgrounds. His work reflects his Japanese heritage, particularly in his depictions of Japan’s natural landscapes and his use of traditional Japanese pigments. O JUN has held numerous solo and duo exhibitions, including at Mizuma Art Gallery in Tokyo, the Mori Art Museum, Museum Haus Kasuya in Kanagawa, Itami City Museum of Art in Hyogo, Fuchu Art Museum, Nizayama Forest Art Museum, and The National Museum of Art in Osaka. His works are part of several museum collections, including The National Museum of Art in Osaka, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, Museum Haus Kasuya in Kanagawa, Okazaki Mindscape Museum in Aichi, Fuchu Art Museum in Tokyo, Takamatsu City Museum of Art in Kagawa, and the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art.

Takuya Inoue (b. 1993) is a Japanese painter who received his B.F.A. from the University of Tsukuba’s School of Art and Design in 2018 and an M.F.A. in Oil Painting from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2019. His work seeks to capture the “universality” found in various phenomena, including nature and humanity. As part of his creative process, he actively explores different locations in his daily life. By immersing himself in local cultures, climates, people, and landscapes, he allows his thoughts, values, and emotions to evolve, with these transformations serving as inspiration for his work. Simultaneously, he focuses on observing the constant, universal self that remains unchanged through these experiences. In recent years, his artwork has featured abstract portraits of people holding babies, symbolizing his exploration of change and constancy. Past exhibitions, such as “STRIKE ME PINK!” (Japan, 2018) and “Me?” (Japan, 2021), have included installations that use natural light to emphasize enduring elements amid the passage of time. In 2024, Inoue held a solo exhibition titled “Same” at Megafield Art Space in Beijing. His artistic practice has been supported by cultural grants from the Ishibashi Foundation (2019) and the Nomura Foundation (2021). These opportunities have arisen through connections he has formed with individuals in the various locations he has explored.

Charlotte Evans is a British artist (b,1981, London, UK) living and working in Toronto. She studied fine art at Byam Shaw, now part of Central St. Martins, UAL in London. She left London for New York in 2011 where she worked from a studio at Brooklyn Wayfarers where she also served as an advisory board member before moving to Canada with her young family. Though still very much making work, Evans stepped back from exhibiting for a period whilst her children were very young, returning with a group show in London in November 2022, a solo with Candida Stevens Gallery in 2023, a duo show with Candida in the Spring of 2024 quickly followed by a solo show at Marrow Gallery in San Francisco. Her work is held in public and private collections around the globe including that of the UBS bank and the Imperial College Healthcare Charity Art Collection in the UK.

Identity and belonging are themes that weave through Evans’ work. She creates paintings in gouache on paper and oils on canvas, all of which are saturated with celebratory uses of color. Figures populate landscapes, whether as individuals or in small groups, though they often appear isolated from one another. The work is ornamental and often theatrical; the figures resemble actors on stage, with the paintings making references to Victorian theatre cutouts. Instead of conventional drawing techniques like perspective, Evans uses color and pattern to create depth and suggest layers within the paintings. Heavily influenced by Italian Renaissance art and Mughal miniatures, she often incorporates pictorial and compositional elements from both.