What to know
- A free Lunar New Year pop-up called Fire Horse Club is showcasing artwork by Peter Chan at Cry Baby Gallery, celebrating Hong Kong culture through nostalgic visuals like Mahjong games and vintage TVs.
- Chan says his paintings blend his identities from Hong Kong and Toronto, reflecting childhood memories and symbols of luck tied to Lunar New Year.
- The event was organized with the Hong Kong Tourism Board and also features a themed bar serving limited-time cocktails inspired by zodiac symbolism.
Visitors can attend for free from Feb. 18–22 and enter to win prizes including a Hermès handbag and a trip for two to Hong Kong.
A free pop-up embracing Hong Kong art and culture has just opened at a gallery in Toronto, just in time for Lunar New Year.
The display, titled the Fire Horse Club, showed the art work of Peter Chan, a Hong Kong-born artist, now living in Toronto, at the Cry Baby Gallery on Dundas Street West.
Many of the pieces display different variations of one or two people alongside a game of Mahjong, mostly shown through a box-style television, with surrounding fruit representative of Hong Kong.
Chan told Now Toronto these kinds of visuals represent his two identities, and how they flowed together growing up.
“I’ve always had this hybrid experience from both sides of the culture,” Chan said. “[My artwork] has that kind of Hong Kong experience, but also reflects back into my childhood. My experiences watching vintage TV, at the time it was very, very popular. Every household had it and I like to create [an] 80s and 90s experience, kind of reflecting back and thinking about what was important to me growing up.”
Chan mentioned how both the game of Mahjong and the different fruits shown in the paintings signified luck and chance, tying into the theme of Lunar New Year.
He said the opportunity to display his work before shipping the various works off to different parts of the world felt amazing.
“It’s been amazing to be able to be who I am,” Chan added. “I combine my roots with what I’ve experienced before and what I’ve been experiencing all these days, all these years.”
The pop-up was in collaboration with the Hong Kong Tour Board (HKTB), a government supported group who promotes travel to the region.
With 2026 being the year of the fire horse, George Lee, the senior manager for marketing and public relations for HKTB, told Now Toronto it was a special year.
“Fire is a young element. Horse is a young element. Combined it creates passion, dedication, and boldness,” Lee said. “This is a time for us to go forward with our dreams and wishes, because it’s going to be a very auspicious year.”
Lee added that this year was incredibly positive, and said Chan’s art reflected the creativity, passion and boldness of Hong Kong.
Along with the gallery display, Lee said the pop-up was bringing Hong Kong’s food and drink scene to Toronto.
“At the front of the gallery, they’re going to see Peter Chan’s work… and then at the back is when we turned it into a Hong Kong bar in celebration of Lunar New Year and in celebration of Hong Kong being one of the greatest bar scenes,” he said.
The bar behind the gallery will be unveiling three new cocktails for a limited time, to be served alongside the art display.
Customers can enjoy cocktails with names related to Lunar New Year, like “shed the snake,” to commemorate the end of the year of the snake, the “fire horse,” and the “lucky 3-4-9,” a series of numbers considered very lucky for the year of the fire horse.
Anyone who wants to attend the event, can also enter for a chance to win a red Hermès handbag as well as a trip for two to Hong Kong to experience the culture, food and drink scene, while staying in a 4-star hotel.
“The reason why we’re doing this is because this is Hong Kong’s way of inviting Canadians to come and experience Hong Kong, experience the art scene in Hong Kong, and it fosters a collaboration between Hong Kong and Toronto,” Lee said. “Toronto, being a multicultural city, has a strong connection to Hong Kong.”
The Fire Horse Club pop-up at Cry Baby Gallery has free entry and runs from Feb. 18 to 22.
