Local artist Won Kang brings Vancouver buildings to life in vivid sketches
Take a trip down nostalgia lane through Won Kang's beautiful and detailed work
While Vancouver's modern high-rises give the city a glamorous look, its heart lies in historic buildings with often colourful or weathered exteriors.
When he worked as an architect, Won Kang fell in love with many of the city's heritage sites. He has an eye for capturing beauty in the streets wherever he goes, and his lunch breaks provided time to sketch some iconic spots in Gastown.
"I have a real keen interest in preserving some of those old signs and old buildings," he tells Vancouver Is Awesome in a recent interview. "Things that are not necessarily real tourist attractions, but buildings that have character and [historic] signage and things like that."
Kang would also take photos of some spots on his break and then sketch them after he had dinner for an hour. He later created a blog, and then began selling the images on greeting cards and prints at artisan markets and in stores.
While he's semi-retired, the 59-year-old artist continues to sketch buildings and signage around the city and sells them in about 10 stores around the Lower Mainland, including Artrageous Pictures & Framing on Commercial Drive, Kinder Books in New Westminster, Buckings Stationary in Kerrisdale, Vancouver Pen Shop Ltd in downtown Vancouver, and others.
Kang sketches everything from iconic venues to beloved restaurants, heritage photos of Vancouver's streets to neon signs, a wintry scene on a busy street to nostalgic theatres. Pursuing the pieces he's shared on the popular Facebook group, Old Vancouver, feels like flipping through a catalogue of the city's history through the present day.
The group has been instrumental in promoting his pieces, the artist says. With over 100,000 members, the Facebook group has brought widespread attention on his work.
An artist's journey: From South Korea to East Vancouver
Kang, who is originally from Usan, South Korea, immigrated with his family to Vancouver when he was eight years old. They actually ran what is now The Federal Store off Main Street on 10th Avenue for about four or five years. From his beginnings, he's had a connection to retail spaces in Vancouver, but he's also lived all over the Lower Mainland.
He also completed a bachelor of fine arts and geography at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and says his love affair with art started at an early age.
"I've always been really interested in art. I knew somehow that's what I was going to pursue. I didn't know if it was architecture or what, but I always drew, and I'm still drawing," he says.
Old Vancouver: From the streets to the iPad
Kang does all the colouring for his sketching digitally. When he started, he scanned hand-sketched drawings onto his computer and then used Photoshop for colouring. Now, he has an iPad where he can sketch his pieces directly onto it, which is much quicker.
"It's like second nature. I still do paintings and things like that, but the paintings themselves are a different thing altogether for me. It's like pure composition with a lot of geometry and colours and things like that ... a lot more abstract," he explains.
Kang hopes his pieces can show the beauty that might get missed in Vancouver's history.
"I am trying to preserve what the past really was. I was trying to show that it was nice back then. When I see archival photos [they are all black and white]. I am trying to enhance that," he says. "I hope people enjoy the work."
