Rémanences / Loss as a Gift brings together the practices of James Lee Chiahan and Bryan Beyung around loss as a cycle of passage, engaging with grief and displacement.
In Beyung's work, his paintings explore transformations linked to uprooting, displacement, and cultural hybridity - the loss of one place in order to inhabit another. Through images of shedding, regeneration, and blooming, he reflects on processes of transformation, adaptation, and reconstruction that shape identities. Influenced by the environments he moves through and the passage of time, his work observes what persists and what disappears through change.
Lee's work centres around the phenomenal reordering of experience that comes with facing the loss of someone dear. His works wander through the emotional hues of grief, looking to reveal the weighty gifts it bears. Therein lies the universal exchange of sorrow and love; loss and renewal; darkness and light - expressed through the memory of a late someone and the reflections it throws back.
Through painting, the exhibition explores this in-between space where identities and memories are redefined. The works evoke moments of transition, allowing a living space to emerge where memory and becoming coexist.
James Lee Chiahan (李佳翰, b.1990 Taiwan) works and lives in Montréal. He primarily works in oil painting and charcoal drawing and has also created several murals in both public and private settings. Recently, he has completed murals for BMO (2025, René-Lévesque/De Bullion, Montreal), Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP (2024,Montreal), and Montreal's Chinatown (2024 with Bryan Beyung). He is also widely recognized for his illustration work, which has earned him numerous awards from prestigious institutions,including American Illustration 43 (2024, 2025), the Canadian Magazine Awards (2024, Grand Prize for Cover Art), Jackson's Art Prize (2024, Shortlist), and The Society for News Design (2024), among others. His clients include The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Walrus, The New York Times, and Apple. His work is held in private collections worldwide and has been exhibited in Canada and the United States. He is a finalist for the Kingston Prize 2025.
Bryan Beyung is a visual artist based in Montreal. Through painting, mural art, and installation, he explores themes of identity, memory, and transmission related to the diasporic experience. His practice engages with impermanence, cultural transformation, and the tensions between tradition and modernity. Influenced by photography, graphic design, and urban culture, he develops visual narratives where personal memory and collective history intersect. His work has been presented in galleries, festivals, and residencies across Canada and internationally. His murals can be found in public spaces in various cities around the world.
