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Chinese pharmaceutical giant opens the largest private art gallery in Richmond

The 21,000-sq.-ft., six-metre tall Lipont Place discovers obscure, local artists

 Toni Zhang McAfee, deputy director of Lipont Place, said the gallery helps launch emerging, local artists and aims to evolve into a thriving business doing so. Photo by Boaz Joseph/Special to the NewsToni Zhang McAfee, deputy director of Lipont Place, said the gallery helps launch emerging, local artists and aims to evolve into a thriving business doing so. Photo by Boaz Joseph/Special to the News

As the real estate market continues to attract foreign investment, one Chinese company has chosen a different route by creating one of B.C.’s largest private art galleries, the Lipont Place art gallery, in Richmond.

It’s hard not to notice a six-metre tall, stylish white building across the street from Aberdeen station. Paintings and statues, which can be seen through the floor-to-ceiling windows, line the Lipont Place art gallery.

“We don’t have ‘art’ on our signage, so many people don’t know what we are doing. They look inside and then walk away,” chuckled Toni Zhang McAfee, deputy director of Lipont Place.

 McAfee is pictured in front of a conceptual photo of Richmond artist Fang Tong, in which a female immigrant is celebrating Christmas at home alone. Photo by Boaz Joseph News/Special to the NewsMcAfee is pictured in front of a conceptual photo of Richmond artist Fang Tong, in which a female immigrant is celebrating Christmas at home alone. Photo by Boaz Joseph News/Special to the News

McAfee has a large company backing her – Libang Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., a Chinese pharmaceuticals giant, which has a branch in Vancouver and owns assets in medical, nutrition, finance and culture industries.

The company launched its first art gallery in Xi’an, China but purchased land in downtown Richmond in 2016 and built the 21,000-sq.-ft. Lipont Place, which opened to the public in early 2017.

“It is completely out of a passion for art,” said McAfee, who has dual Master’s degrees in art management and museum studies from the U.S.

“And, of course, as a private art gallery, we want to make it profitable as well — eventually.”

Lipont hosted various exhibitions in its first year of business, including contemporary photography, paintings, drawings, sculpture, textiles and crafts. Most of these exhibitions are free and open to the public daily.

One of the gallery’s goals is to discover obscure, local artists and build an agency partnership with them, explained McAfee.

“All of the established artists were already taken by old local galleries a long time ago. Our chance lies in finding new, good artists ourselves,” she said.

For example, an exhibition called “In Darkness” showcased the works of three emerging local artists, who were spotted by McAfee and her coworkers on Instagram.

Some of the works on display are from immigrant artists, including Richmond photographer Fang Tong, whose conceptual photography reflects immigrant life in Canada.

“There are many great Chinese artists but few have made it to the mainstream stage, sometimes because of limited English, other times because of financial pressures, which pushed them to take up other jobs. We are happy to help them get exposure,” said McAfee.

Connected to China, the gallery has also imported works from famous artists in China, such as the one currently on display — “Tibetan Plateau Portraits” by Dongming Xie.

But she also noted that, as a commercial gallery, the most important criteria is the collection value of the work, no matter what the background of an artist is.

McAfee admits that art is not an easy business. Although the gallery has attracted some attention among local collectors, it has had to rely on the support of the company’s art auction website, which “has a stable customer base in China.”

“All the work on display in the gallery is posted and available for purchase on the website (YKLM.com),” said McAfee.

To save costs, McAfee rents out part of the venue for events or other exhibitions, when it’s not in use, such as a large-scale Titanic-themed display later this year.

McAfee also invites performers to some of the exhibitions and provides free coffee and beer, to attract more audience.

Meanwhile, the gallery has tried to improve its profile by working with organizations such as the Canadian Society for Asian Arts.

“We hope one day, that most people will know there is a great gallery in Richmond called Lipont. We are working on it,” said McAfee.

“We also hope that by attracting more artists and art lovers to Richmond, we can drive a more artistic atmosphere in the city.”

McAfee welcomes everyone to come to the art gallery and take a look at the work on display or to “just have a seat and enjoy the nice atmosphere.”

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