Becoming: The Art of Gu Xiong is now on view at the Museum of Vancouver

Open until February 2027, the exhibition celebrates the Chinese-Canadian artist’s life and work, connecting personal memory and histories of migration

At the Museum of Vancouver, Becoming: The Art of Gu Xiong traces the evolution of Gu Xiong’s artistic practice and the major influences that defined it.

Born in Chongqing, China and based in Vancouver, Xiong is an internationally renowned multidisciplinary artist who has exhibited more than 40 solo shows spanning painting, sculpture, photography, video, and site-specific installations. Becoming is the most comprehensive display of his work to date, highlighting landmark pieces from his 50-year career.

Becoming encompasses three gallery spaces. The first covers Xiong’s start as an artist in China and his role in the country’s Avant-Garde movement. The second chronicles his time as a new immigrant in Canada, working manual labour roles—dishwasher, janitor, and pizza chef—while continuing his creative practice in his basement home. And the third looks beyond personal experiences towards the global movement of migrants.

Becoming: The Art of Gu Xiong is on view until February 2027. Learn more through the Museum of Vancouver.

Post sponsored by Museum of Vancouver.

Becoming: The Art of Gu Xiong. Photo by Scott Baker

Featured___LZSettings_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-70SgLHPFMMz1AwMCYEgSgGMMwFnJc+DEDC87aGAWDjIs3ycCJQG-iIUDUnJmBYt0YwQBwCAAEKYawamiHpBmpGkJmIQYdJIiiDJOAo9Jigw1lZqZdmsJWwhgCYcpWTZIF0nBWDklQSDZEFnm2XSYy8JwRZOGAACOGgGdSkKYNGbm7igKAroIKxmCukVgLQZliKkhwYr29oBJguxOAA9BwJJMBisQMNg1CGZk2SOk4GRZEQ1L5MU5TkPkNwIG8xTVigE1IIUNT+nkFpAA

Becoming: The Art of Gu Xiong is now on view at the Museum of Vancouver

Open until February 2027, the exhibition celebrates the Chinese-Canadian artist’s life and work, connecting personal memory and histories of migration

Stir Cheat Sheet: Beach concerts to artisan market, 5 happenings to hit at Harrison Festival of the Arts

Hawksley Workman, plus mesmerizing cultural melds from El Balcón, Benin International Musical, and more

Keerat Kaur's If Gardens Could Dream celebrates lush language and nature at Surrey Art Gallery, July 4 to August 30

Solo exhibition spans painting, sculpture, digital media, embroidery, poetry, and architectural forms

Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 design-minded happenings to catch at West Coast Modern Week

From walking tours through upper Ambleside’s Modernist landmarks to a screening about an unsung mid-century design maverick at Kay Meek Arts Centre, architectural celebrations abound

Art Downtown brings painting, local talent, and some welcome creative chaos to city’s core, on Thursdays, July 2 to 23

In addition to finished pieces in a variety of styles, weekly event also features live music, art demonstrations, and hands-on workshops

Myfanwy MacLeod’s Trophies unpacks frat-house history of Burnaby Art Gallery site

Beer kegs to donkey heads, Vancouver artist’s expansive new exhibition uncovers Ceperley Mansion’s past while linking it to masculinity rites, from Ancient Greece through to today’s headlines

Eastside Arts Festival unveils new workshops and full schedule for event running July 17 to 26

New art-making opportunities and expanded art walks are part of the programming just announced

Queer Arts Festival kicks off with exhibitions “On the Edge”, June 5 to 27

Community Art Show captures a cross-section of experience, while Varied Editions plays with multiple prints of the same image

West of Main Art Walk spans collage, woodblock prints, oils, and more, May 30 and 31

Spreading as far west as Tolmie Street, Artists in Our Midst’s annual open-studio event features 79 talents in all

B.C. visual artist Samuel Roy-Bois named finalist for national Sobey Art Award

UBC Okanagan associate professor has a celebrated multidisciplinary practice that works across sculpture, installation, photography, and the built environment

At the Museum of Anthropology, Jut-ke-Nay–Hazel Wilson weaves Haida history into robes

New exhibition I Use My Haida Eyes features 51 of the artist’s intricate works, which hold layers of cultural knowledge

Stir Cheat Sheet: 4 artists to check out at Art Vancouver 2026

These are just a few of the highlights at the 10th annual edition of the showcase of Canadian and international artists

With mysterious Magic Show, artist Rosamunde Bordo blurs line between real and fictional worlds

Multilayered exhibition of video and handcrafted works at Western Front blends detective tales and esoteric rituals to create an ongoing, genre-defying form of storytelling

Stir Cheat Sheet: Two artists worth checking out at Emily Carr University’s The Show

Here’s a snapshot of just two form-pushing talents out of the more than 400 on view at the giant exhibition, May 13 to 27

Museum of Anthropology displays a visionary artist’s collection in I Use My Haida Eyes: The History Robes of Jut-ke-Nay–Hazel Wilson, opening May 14

Wilson’s 50 painted and appliquéd robes document specific episodes of Haida history, representing an expansion of traditional Indigenous form

Here’s what to expect at the 2026 edition of West Coast Modern Week, July 7 to 12

A home tour of five West Vancouver residences, a film screening of E.1027: Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea, and much more on offer for architecture buffs

Stir Cheat Sheet: 4 painters to discover at the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Art Studio Tour

From stunningly detailed owls to pop-art-hued crows, a small sampling of the strong brushwork at the event running May 9 and 10

At Gallery 881, Vapes & Butts looks at tobacco smoking through an artist’s lens

Michelle Leone Huisman used a 19th-century printing technique to create her vivid images of the things that smokers discard

Emily Carr University spotlights the first graduating class of its next century at The Show 2026, from May 13 to 27

Annual exhibition features more than 400 emerging artists and designers in one of Vancouver’s largest free public art events

Western Front hosts Rosamunde Bordo's Magic Show, May 2 to July 25

Interdisciplinary works act as talismans, drawing on found postcards addressed to a woman named Denise

Art Vancouver 2026 unites exhibitors exploring identity, material, and contemporary experience, May 28 to 31

Fair celebrates its 10th edition this year at the Vancouver Convention Centre, with local and international artists

ART & DESIGNStir VancouverJuly 8, 2026Partner Content, Museum of Vancouver, Gu Xiong, Summer 2026

Becoming: The Art of Gu Xiong is now on view at the Museum of Vancouver

Open until February 2027, the exhibition celebrates the Chinese-Canadian artist’s life and work, connecting personal memory and histories of migration

At the Museum of Vancouver, Becoming: The Art of Gu Xiong traces the evolution of Gu Xiong’s artistic practice and the major influences that defined it.

Becoming: The Art of Gu Xiong is on view until February 2027. Learn more through the Museum of Vancouver.

Related Articles

Check out our Instagram @stirvancouver

CONTACT US

LINKS