Neon Superstitions lights up THIS Gallery with glowing signs and quiet spirits, to July 12

Liang Wang’s paintings and drawings capture beliefs and rituals that tie in closely to Vancouver’s Chinatown

By Ashley Kim

Jack Chow Insurance oil painting by Liang Wang.

Liang Wang’s Beckoning Cat No. 3

THIS Gallery presents Neon Superstitions from July 4 to 12, with the opening reception on July 5 from 12 to 4 pm

TAIWANESE-CANADIAN ARTIST Liang Wang turns his gaze toward the everyday icons of Vancouver’s Chinatown in the new solo exhibition Neon Superstitions at THIS Gallery.

From stern Guan Gong statues and polished beckoning cats to glowing neon signage and fractured storefront windows, oil paintings and coloured pencil drawings convey the quiet persistence of belief, tradition, and memory in the modern diasporic world.

In Neon Superstitions, Wang shifts away from the restrained urban landscapes of his earlier works to embrace culturally and spiritually loaded motifs that evoke layered emotions. His depictions of seemingly ordinary imagery reflect an unspoken tension between the worldly and the otherworldly.

Wang’s pieces carry an ever-present sense of nostalgia. In Jack Chow Insurance, a glowing red neon sign cuts through the darkness of the night, eliciting warmth and familiarity through a saturated palette and soft edges. Three Feet Above features a brightly hued Guan Gong figure standing against a salmon-coloured wall beneath a CCTV camera, referencing the Chinese idiom 舉頭三尺有 神明 (“Three feet above, the gods are watching”). 

Raised between cultures, Wang draws on his background and personal experience to explore themes of cultural identity, symbolism, and urban space. Born in Taiwan and raised from a young age in Mainland China, he moved to Australia as a teen, and once more to Canada for high school and post-secondary education. He has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from OCAD University in Toronto, and has exhibited across Canada and Taiwan since 2014.  

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