Capulet Art Gallery & Framing Shop

General information

Capulet Art Gallery — a bohemian style art gallery and picture framing shop showcasing figurative and abstract artwork from talented Canadian artists.

Our Story — In 2006, Kevan Seng met Raymond Chow at a bus stop in Richmond, BC. Kevan only had a $10 bill on him and needed change for the bus. So, he asked the first person he saw at that bus stop for change who happened to be Raymond Chow. Kevan and Raymond chatted on the bus for awhile and exchanged contacts.

A couple days later, Raymond called Kevan and invited him to his gallery. It was the first time Kevan had ever received an invitation to an art gallery, so, he accepted the invitation. He visited Raymond’s gallery which was located in the industrial part of Richmond. When Kevan arrived at the gallery, he noticed a beautiful display of drawings while walking up a flight of stairs.

In fact, it took him about 10 minutes before reaching the top because he was admiring all of the artwork up the steps. It was as if he was walking back in time with each additional step passing from one decade to the next. There were works from the ’60s, 70’s, and 80’s, with the majority being drawings of Vancouver’s buildings.

Once Kevan reached the top of the stairs, he noticed a stack of drawings on the floor. He walked towards the drawings and picked them up, finding that they were drawings of Vancouver Chinatown. Suddenly, he had the idea to create a calendar from the drawings. After speaking to Raymond about it, this would become his first project in the Arts.

The calendars were sold throughout Chapters Indigo in Vancouver lower mainland. From there, word spread about the calendars to the point where M-Channel television sent a camera crew to interview Raymond and Kevan.

A year later, at an art exhibition of Raymond Chow's in Chinatown, Kevan met a lady by the name of Bonnie who owned a collection of works by Norveau Morrisseau. She had learned that Kevan had made prints and art cards from Raymond Chow's works and so, asked Kevan if he could create some art cards from her collection. It took 1 month of trial and error going back to the printers to figure out the right template for the Morrisseau cards, but after that month, the first batch of the "Edwards" Morrisseau collection was ready to take to market.

Vancouver Art Gallery was the first gallery to purchase an order of the art cards, then the Gallery of Greater Victoria. Currently, they're in the National Gallery of Canada and the Smithsonian.

Chapters — During this time, the general manager at Chapters on Broadway and Granville made an offer to Kevan. He said that should Kevan have any ideas for events at their location, Kevan should let him know and he'll put it through. Now, up until this time, Kevan had done a lot of events at various Chapters stores throughout the lower mainland with Raymond. They would set up an exhibition of Raymond's artwork while promoting the calendar. So, they had a good working relationship with Chapters.

A couple years later, Kevan had an idea. The idea was to have a 3 day event where each day, 3 artists would come in to create a painting, live. Raffle tickets would be sold where the winner would win the painting and 50% of the monies would go towards the Love of Reading Foundation and the remaining 50% would go to Admiral Seymour Elementary's Library.

Day One — it was a cold, wet, and windy October day in 2009. Kevan arrived with three artists; Raymond Chow, Arlana Green, and Ron Sombilon. They were situated in the front of the Chapters store in front of the windows. After setting up, the artists began their painting. People would walk into the store as if they were proceeding towards the escalator when they'd notice the painting, stop, turn, and stare. They would stand and watch the live painting for hours.

"After about ten minutes, my legs would get tired, but then, I'd see a couple seniors standing and watching without making a flinch. So, I couldn't crouch down or sit on the ledge. I had to keep strong, too" - Kevan Seng.

This event eventually led to the creation of the Golden Brush Live Painting Competition, now called the Battle of the Brush. Since the creation of the show, Kevan has worked with over 200 artists in the Vancouver lower mainland.

Picture Framing — during the beginning, Kevan was introduced to a mutual friend who had been running a picture framing shop for 30+ years. Originally, Kevan would have some items framed and that was that. Then, family and friends would ask him to have their items framed.

Kevan was working with a framing manufacturer, rather than a retail shop, so, the prices were very affordable. When he noticed that the orders were coming in on a more frequently, Kevan decided to research the prices from other framing shops around town. He found that to have something custom framed was really expensive, so, he decided to make a deal with the owner of the framing shop. They would offer affordable picture framing to the Vancouver lower mainland so that more people could have their items framed at affordable prices.

This mission would follow in line with helping the Arts whereas if there is more art put up, more art will be seen. Rather than having a beautiful piece of art that's hidden in closet or drawer because it's too expensive to have framed, it would be hung on a wall where everyone could appreciate.

Today — Capulet Art is both an art gallery and picture framing shop located in the industrial part of Richmond, BC. The focus is to showcase the hidden gems of the Art world so that the public can see. We are opened Mondays through Fridays from 11am to 7pm, and occasionally on the weekends by appointment. We welcome anyone who appreciates art to come by for a visit. The gallery is constantly being upgraded with the core roots of promoting the Arts and providing affordable picture framing to the public.