Rennie Collection at Wing Sang

Oh thank god for the Rennie Collection!!!  It renewed my faith in Vancouver’s art community!

I’ve been mildly disappointed with the arts + culture in Vancouver.  Sorry, Vancouver – but it’s true.  When I was in Alberta, I found the art scene to be much more progressive, vibrant, fresh + exciting!  So, Jeff + I were very fortunate to be invited to the Rennie Collection’s most recent exhibit opening.

First, a little bit about the man.  Bob Rennie is THE biggest real estate marketer on the West Coast of Canada.  His marketing firm, Rennie Marketing Systems is responsible for most of the luxury condominiums, hotels + development projects in Vancouver.  He’s kind of a big deal.  His art museum, The Rennie Collection has one of the largest collections of contemporary art in Canada.

A location for the movie that Jeff is working on was shot in one of Bob Rennie’s building.  Mr. Rennie’s assistant was there during shooting + mentioned the art opening, thus putting the two of us on the guest list.  Woohoo!

The Rennie Collection is situated in Chinatown – it was a goooooorgeous day!!!!  Here is the gate that leads you into the heart of Chinatown:

Lots of cool, heritage buildings dot the landscape of Chinatown.

Chinatown is relatively small, but the main artery is Pender Street.

Lots of touristy, fun, colorful things to browse + buy!

The autumn leaves were going off!!!

Chinatown in Vancouver is similar to the Chinatown in Los Angeles where it is slowly getting gentrified.  There is less of an actual Chinese community + most shops are for tourism only, with hipster establishments rapidly gobbling up real estate.

The Rennie Collection + marketing firm is housed in Wing Sang, Chinatown’s oldest building built in 1889.  It took four years + over $10 million dollars to renovate.  And what a beautiful job they did!!!

When we entered the building, Bob Rennie’s assistant warmly hugged Jeff + enthusiastically welcomed me to Vancouver!  She was one of the nicest, most genuine people!!!

The current exhibition is Glenn Brown + Rebecca Warren on display until March 29th 2014.

Rebecca Warren.

Glenn Brown.

I really enjoyed Glenn Brown’s pieces!  There was so much texture + movement in his paintings, but his technique is unbelievably flat + brushstrokes are almost undetectable!!!  The gallery allows for so much natural light + is such a gorgeous space!  And all the guests were stylish – peep out that lady’s tiger stripe coat!  FIERCE!!!

Stunning exposed brick wall – a remnant of the old Wing Sang building.

We wandered up to the rooftop for refreshments.

WOW!!!!

There was complimentary wine, bottles of water + hot chocolate with huge, fancy shmancy cinnamon marshmallows!  ME WANT!

Martin Creed’s neon is placed on the top of the building.

We wished we could see it at night!  Here’s a night shot from the Rennie Collection website.

Surrounding buildings.

Jeff chivalrously holding my hot chocolate while I take pictures.

Panorama of the rooftop.

The glass pavilion to the right of the picture is by Dan Graham.  It’s the only one of it’s kind in Canada.  Heyooooo!!!!

Jeff + I spent a while at the gallery, enjoyed the sunny roof, chatted with some very nice people, + stalked Bob Rennie for a while, but he was so busy greeting guests, so we didn’t want to bother him!  As we left we were very invigorated about such a great resource for contemporary art in Vancouver!

Go check out the Rennie Collection!  Admission is free, but you have to make tour reservations on their website!  Spots fill up quickly, so make sure you plan ahead!