James Lee Chiahan and Bryan Beyung sitting on a couch in their shared studio

For our first double studio visit feature, art_works ventured into the shared studio space of Montreal-based artists James Lee Chiahan and Bryan Beyung.

James Lee Chiahan is a Taiwanese-born Canadian artist, painter, and illustrator whose meticulously rendered works exude a calm familiarity of one intimately acquainted with his subject matter. His artistic lens frames scenes of families gathered around tables decked with greasy plates that give one the impression of having stumbled across a family dinner. Among the material the artist draws from his repertoire of images, he also captures profiles of unsuspecting subjects, launches viewers into sweeping vistas of lush Taiwanese landscapes, and memorializes still lives of salmon flesh cooling over liquefying ice cubes. The results are impressively true to life, each providing a window into diverse channels of the human experience.

Born in Montreal to a Chinese-Cambodian family, Bryan Beyung is a muralist and painter whose work reveals the reciprocal influence of painting at both larger and smaller scales. He readily embraces raw lines, abstraction, and imperfections that offset strikingly realistic compositions. In some of his varied scenes, vases are fractured and made whole with evocative texture, and arrangements of porcelain tea sets, mangoes, and table settings suggest communal rituals and gatherings. His wide-ranging subject matter also includes incisive portraiture reflecting the nostalgic spontaneity of a moment caught. Bryan’s murals can be seen internationally, and throughout Massachusetts, such as in Boston’s Chinatown, Lynn, and Lowell.

Against a backdrop of bright sunlight and panoramic views, James and Bryan touched on the value of digital media, the perks of sharing a studio space as a generative social setting, and art’s ability to create connections and feed the community.

art_works: How and when did you first meet?

James Lee Chiahan: We have been Instagram friends for three or four years. I forget how I first encountered Bryan’s account or vice versa. I have connected with many new friends online in recent years. Bryan and I had been following each other for a while and were always commenting on each other’s posts.

Bryan Beyung: Commenting emojis, fires, “So good!”

JLC: When I moved to Montreal around two years ago during the pandemic, Bryan contacted me saying that he saw that I was in town and that we should finally meet up. He reached out during a tough time. When Bryan got in touch, my dad had recently passed away. During that period, I spent most of my time back in Oakville, the neighbourhood where my family lives outside of Toronto, and it wasn’t until about a year later that I was finally like: “Let’s paint. I’m ready to paint.”

BB: That’s when I got James to meet me at Parc Frédéric-Back to do some plein-air painting sessions.

JLC: We did quite a few plein-air sessions during that summer and got some great paintings from it. Mostly trees and landscape scenes, as well as a few street scenes around Beaubien with another Taiwanese artist-friend of ours. And that is our story – it has been true love ever since!

a_w: Have you ever collaborated artistically? If not, do any other collaborations come to mind?

JLC: Although I am itching to start exploring murals, we have only collaborated in graphic design so far. Our latest project was for a social center that needed apparel, such as crewnecks. We discussed the colours, style, and vibe and then worked individually before bringing our sketches together. Bryan and I have similar backgrounds – we both went to school for graphic design, and the art component is self-taught, so we are sort of secret designers.

BB: James is better at graphic design than I am. I think that is what caught my eye in his work – I could relate to how he was shaping and constructing his compositions. Even though his works are more painterly and classical in style, the way he structures his compositions was very familiar to me as being influenced by graphic design.

Details of James Lee Chiahan’s studio space

Three paintings by James Lee Chiahan

a_w: James, do you still work as a freelance illustrator/graphic designer? If so, how does digital media influence your studio practice (if at all), or vice versa?

JLC: This year, I have been trying to pivot my focus away from graphic design and concentrate fully on my visual art practice. I am doing a lot more illustration and am making a concerted effort to get my fine art out there. However, prior to this more recent shift, I was juggling both angles. After graduating, I worked as a freelance graphic designer and did a lot of work in branding and packaging, for instance, in real estate, which is very different. This difference can sometimes be quite a nice break, since it counteracts the more creative art stuff. With graphic design, things are very structured; there is a client to speak to and specific media problems that you have been engaged to solve. Whereas with art, you are throwing questions out into the void, and working in a more organic, personal, and far less structured way.

In terms of cross-media influence, I haven’t really thought about it too much. I definitely use many of the tools and techniques I acquired through my training in graphic design, such as Photoshop. Being able to manipulate images and visuals digitally has helped me greatly with my traditional art practice. For example, if I get stuck on a painting, I know how to upload it into the digital sphere, where I can mess around without breaking the physical image. Fine art and graphic design are fields that probably influence each other in several ways. They are both visually based and use the same parts of your brain, i.e. looking for patterns and manipulating things to make sense visually. Design involves a lot of typing and layouts, which is very different, but it all seems to tie together in terms of compositions, hierarchy, colour theory, and stuff like that.

a_w: Tell us about each of your individual art practices and creative process.

BB: My approach would fall under autoethnographic painting, which means that I connect my personal experience to broader cultural, social meanings and understandings. In my practice, I explore themes related to my diasporic heritage, and I would say that most of my works are based on memories, ideas, and images relating to this experience. I sometimes feel like I am moving in so many different directions, capturing various memories and ideas, but the underlying exploration of diasporic heritage would be the foundation of all subsequent aspects of my art practice. Working from there, my art can take on many different forms. I am currently focusing on oil paintings and murals, but would love to start exploring installations and immersive spaces in the future. We will see. I have been committed to painting with oil for over four or five years and I feel like I still have a lot to learn, which is what motivates me right now.

JLC: Listening to Bryan talk about where he draws his ideas from, I am struck by how similar his process is to mine!

BB: Yeah we really bonded over this when we first met. We have a lot of things in common in terms of the imagery we explore, but there are also a lot of similarities in our personal lives as well. We have lived different lives, but in similar spaces. For some of the scenes that James paints, I really feel as though I have been there before. For instance, his series of portraits featuring people sitting around typical Chinese restaurant tables was the first to catch my eye, even before I knew him personally. I could tell that the artist came from the same area and background as me. The treatment of his images also compels me – I love how moody they are, and how he uses such detailed techniques to create ambiance in many different layers.

A selection of works by James Lee Chiahan

James Lee Chiahan, [fishtanks], 2022

JLC: That is really nice to hear. I think that is something that I strive for, when I create an image. Even though I am drawing from my own experience, I work a lot from photo references that I take, or that my family takes. I try to leave my compositions open enough to allow people to experience them in their own ways. I always hope that my viewers can get to their own version of what I am trying to communicate. It doesn’t matter what that version is – as long as they also get the emotional and sensory effect I seek to convey, I am happy with it. In my practice, I would say that I am much more of an intuitive painter. If I find an image that I am drawn to and feel an emotional response, then I will strive to capture it in painting. And these subjects just so happen to relate to imagery and themes arising from my experience.

a_w: What do you like most or least about sharing your studio space with other artists?

BB: I set up here in January of last year. The aspect I probably like the least about sharing the studio is that it is harder to create your own world. When you invite people over to see your art, the studio isn’t as private, and doesn’t feel like your own space. But that is the only downside that I can think of – I see a lot more positives about sharing a studio, at least for now. For instance, splitting the cost of rent is a big plus for working artists. I took this space during Covid, because I was so tired of working alone from my home studio. Human beings are a social species, and we benefit so much from surrounding ourselves with other people, especially when we can share our experiences through art. I feel much more motivated to create and make art in this space, with all the natural lighting and company. It is also great that James is here, since we have similar approaches and aesthetics. It felt strange, at first, to share a space with other artists, since it meant putting all of my work, studies, and experimentations out there for everyone to observe. As a muralist, however, I felt like I was already doing this on another level by exposing my art process to the public outdoors and being very open and vulnerable. That is what has always made mural-making so interesting to me, and it is a similar feeling to that in this studio, except on a smaller scale.

JLC: I would say that it has been the exact same thought process for me. I had been working out of my bedroom for a while, and it was only this past year that I joined the studio, once Bryan had notified me that there was a spot open. I arrived in the fall, closer to October. This studio is split up into thirds, or chunks, between about nine artists. My favourite part is the social aspect and exchange, and just having people around to talk to, bounce ideas off of, and learn different techniques. Painting next to Bryan has been so inspiring. My least favourite part would probably also be the social aspect. It is so easy to get caught up chatting with Bryan, which is nice too – it is good and bad. You are opening yourself up to more distractions, but they are ultimately good ones.

a_w: What would you say is one thing that you have learned from each other in the time that you have been working alongside one another?

BB: One thing that I have learned from James would have to be the technical aspect of painting – how he works with colour and applies it.

JLC: I also got you to clean up your habits. I mean, look at how his palette looked before! Now he uses a glass palette, which is much cleaner. It was insane. How were you able to work like that?!

BB: I used to work like I would for my murals: not giving my brushes any love.

JLC: I have learned from Bryan to take a step back and look at the overall picture – to examine how everything comes together. I tend to get caught up in the fine details and am working on grasping the general feel of working at larger scales.

BB: It is funny that you say that, because I feel like I have learned a lot from how you work with smaller details and are so meticulous and disciplined at minute scales. Since I often work on larger canvases and walls, I sometimes have difficulty with smaller works requiring more details and smaller brushes.

a_w: What projects are you working on this coming year?

JLC: I am currently putting together a body of work that I will be able to show – I think that would be the main big thing for me this year.

BB: Same thing for me as well. I have applied to a few projects less tied to painting, and some for murals, since the mural season is fast approaching. James and I are also working on a collaborative project exploring depanneurs in Montreal. This would be a collaboration between myself, James, and a young writer – it will involve a booklet of illustrations, photographs, paintings, and writing that will depict themes of diaspora through the eyes of a convenience store owner in Hochelaga [a neighbourhood in Montreal]. We want to depict the interaction between this man and the world around him, and are trying to communicate a very personal story. From there, we hope to get a more immersive show together in that same depanneur.

Details of Bryan Beyung’s studio space

a_w: Bryan, you also travel extensively for your mural-making practice. What has been your favourite mural project, and why?

BB: My favourite mural would have to be a project I worked on in Ville Saint-Laurent (the neighbourhood where I grew up) for a social housing that is called Norgate, which is a point of entry for newcomers to Montreal. There is a lot of movement and change in that housing, since people don’t typically settle in that area. But it is a very lively place – my grandmother actually still lives a block away from the mural. The client gave me complete freedom for this project, which was very nice. I painted an image of kids at a school right behind the building, and all of them had these huge smiles because they were about to have a week off from classes. It was a lot of fun to do something tied to the neighbourhood with deeper meaning than just a decorative piece. What made this project stand out to me was the approach. I have painted about 20 public murals that are still up in different places around the world. Murals are out there for people to see. They aren’t hidden away, and you don’t need to pay an entry fee, so they are accessible for everyone to view and judge, which makes the practice beautiful and scary at the same time. You feel a certain responsibility to paint something authentic to you, but which can also benefit the community and neighbourhood more generally.

JLC: I would love to try my hand at murals. I really admire what Bryan is saying about creating art that is important to the people who live where the art is, and making those kinds of relationships. Bryan, I remember you telling me about your trip to Morocco, and how random strangers would come up to talk to you while you were painting. I find making connections with people on the street appealinge. To actually get involved with the community and what is going on.

BB: Yeah, Morocco was another one of my favourite mural projects – I participated in the Jidar Festival, which is a whole community and festival. People would come over every day to cook food by the mural. They would bring a gas stove and all possible tools…that experience was also amazing.

a_w: Where do you find yourselves drawing influence from these days?

JLC: I have recently been looking at a lot of landscape paintings. I am currently working on a landscape piece for an illustration, so I have been really drawn to this artist Arkhip Kuindzhi – an old Russian painter who was incredibly talented. And then there are a few mainstays that have influenced me: Hurvin Anderson, Jennifer Packer, Nicolas Uribe.

BB: I think there are too many for me to choose from. I tend to be drawn to seeing how artists can achieve more visual impact with fewer brushstrokes. I think that has been really exciting to me – learning to use only a couple of brushstrokes to grasp an idea and bring it to life, instead of always needing to rework it. I have recently been feeling inspired by more simplified approaches.

a_w: Thank you so much for this fantastic conversation – it has been so great to learn more about each of your processes!

JLC: Thank you for setting this up!

BB: We are learning about ourselves as we go, and doing interviews such as this one is always such a great way to put into words what we are trying to achieve. It helps guide us!

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