Artist Statement
​Ming Qian (Henry) Wang was born on 21 February 2007 in Beijing, China. He moved to Vancouver, Canada at eleven. By five he had already begun drawing freely and discovered a natural talent that pulled him into the world of art and imagination.
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​Wang has been recipient of 12th Youth World Cup Live Competition supported by UNICEF and The David Evans Scholarship from the New Arts Foundations of Vancouver in 2024.
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Henry in his own words:
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"From as early as I can remember, the idea of art has been stuck in my head. I started drawing, coloring, and practicing traditional Chinese calligraphy. At eleven I left Beijing for Vancouver, and the sudden change made everything feel unfamiliar because my entire view of the world had come from life in Beijing.
As an eleven-year-old newcomer it was hard to fit in, and as a new Asian Canadian it was even tougher to feel “normal” in an unfamiliar community. Still, in my spare time art kept me company. I sketched objects and people around me that felt interesting. My real creative spark did not ignite until the pandemic in 2020.
During lockdowns the forced isolation felt almost like drowning. Long stretches of loneliness and hopelessness stirred something deep inside me. I was thirteen and craving a new way to express the churn of thoughts in my head. That is when I fell in love with painting. It is calming yet aggressive; each stroke carries anger but lands as lightly as an angel’s wing. For the first time I felt I was writing a story with color and emotion, a real story told through a brush.
Since then I have kept making art, chasing new ideas, using canvas and paint to surface thoughts I normally keep hidden. Many pieces are full of darkness and disorder, yet I also want their stories to convey human feeling and the complexity at the heart of our nature. Everything I paint circles one question: How do individuals perceive and experience life? Our humanity is defined by what we feel—mentally, physically, emotionally. Ignore that and the point of living fades; we become tiny specks in the universe.
As my life experience grows, the stories my paintings tell feel more concrete. Some things are fragmented or chaotic, but we still have to face them. Whether joyful or pensive, my work is about the stories of being alive. Art, to me, is a way to survive, to value the present, and to look forward. It is complicated and not always pretty, but even the ugly parts of life deserve to be recorded because beneath the heaviest darkness there is always a bit of beauty.
I love art because it loves me back. It lets me turn the images in my mind into something tangible, and that feeling of creating something from nothing is pure exhilaration."
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This website contains a majority of Henry's works from 2020-present.
Credentials
Education and Training
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2025- Carnegie Mellon University, BFA
2020-2025 Point Grey Secondary
2020-2025 British Columbia Creative Center
Achievements
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2025 Point Grey Secondary Valedictorian, Vancouver BC
2025 Point Grey Secondary Merit Award, Vancouver BC
2024 12th Youth World Cup Live Painting Competition - UNICEF- Auction Certificate, Vancouver BC
2024 12th Youth World Cup Live Painting Competition - UNICEF- First Place, Richmond BC
2024 David Evans Scholarship - New Arts Foundation of Vancouver, Vancouver BC
2023 11th Youth World Cup Live Painting Competition - UNICEF- First Place, Richmond BC
2023 Fine and Performing Arts trophy - Point Grey Secondary School, Vancouver BC
Exhibitions
2025 "Threshold 18— Metamorphosis", Vancouver BC
2024 David Evans Scholarship Exhibition - New Arts Foundation of Vancouver, North Vancouver BC
2023 "Peace of My Mind" Solo Exhibition at Lipont Gallery, Richmond BC
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Employment
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2025- Junior Art Instructor - British Columbia Creative Center. Inc, Richmond BC
2024-2025 Assistant Art Teacher - ArtShu. Inc, Vancouver BC
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Scholarships
2025 Point Grey Merit Scholarship - Point Grey Secondary School
2024 David Evans Scholarship - New Arts Foundation of Vancouver
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Volunteer
2024-2025 Point Grey Leadership Team, Vancouver BC
2024-2025 Arts Of Our Community, Non-Profit Fundraisers, Vancouver, BC
2024 Coach, Special Olympics Basketball, Vancouver BC
2023-2025 Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver BC
2023-2025 Service Student/ Peer tutor at Point Grey Secondary School, Vancouver BC
2023 Chinatown Food Distribution, Vancouver BC
2021-2022 Coach, Empower Basketball Club, Vancouver BC
Private Art Collection
“Sensory,” 2023 - Mr. Dario Meli, Vancouver BC
“An Unforgettable Memory,” 2023 - Mrs. Li Yu, Vancouver BC
“The Vision,” 2023 - Mr. Han Chang Qing, Shandong, China
“Swirly Sounding Body of Water,” 2023 - Mr. Chen Sheng Cheng, Richmond BC
“Snowfall,” 2022 - Mr. Liu Jiang Chuan, Coquitlam BC
“Forest Beneath the Clouds,” 2023 - Mr. Zheng Yong He, Richmond BC
“Cactus Face,” 2023 - Mr. Yang Hong Peng, Vancouver BC
“Blue road And Natural Fantasy,“ 2020 - Ms Tracy Li, Vancouver BC
“Freshly Painted Red,” 2022 - Mr. Zhang Guang Hui, Richmond BC
“Vineyard,” 2023 - Mr. Bai Ji Ping, Mission BC
“Red Brick Wall,” 2023 - Mr. Liu Chao Fang, Vancouver BC
“Instructor in the Top Hat,” 2023 - Mr. Shawn He, Richmond BC
“Spirits And Red Chair,” 2023 - Mr. William Ma, Vancouver BC
Bibliography And Press
2024 BCBUSINESS, Giving It Away: Philanthropy is alive and well in BC, p.54, Print, Magazine
2023 Hui, Vikki. Richmond News, Online
2023 City of Richmond, Community and Culture, Online
https://www.richmond.ca/culture/calendar/search/Event.aspx?EventID=15788,
2023 He, Shawn. Foreword, “Peace of My Mind,” Print
2023 Ticar, Jay. Afterword, “Peace of My Mind,” Print
2023 Global News, Event, Online
https://globalnews.ca/event/9978279/peace-of-my-mind/
2023 Georgia Straight, Online
2023 BC Creative Center, “Peace of My Mind,” Print, Online
https://www.bccreativecenter.com/events
2023 Lipond Gallery, Online