“I have always maintained a high degree of enthusiasm for artistic creation,but I do not deliberately seek inspiration for creation, because it is a part of life itself.”
-- Xinyan Zhang
Xinyan Zhang is one of representative young talents in the contemporary painting field. She was born in China in 1991 and currently lives and works in Berlin. She studied at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts in Germany (2019-2021) and the Florence Academy of Fine Arts in Italy(2017).
Xinyan depicts realism in a romantic way.She engages in a dialogue between post-expressionism from Western art history, traditional Chinese painting, real news events, and realistic themes. Her artistic practice involves the use of fragments and mixed techniques to explore the "weaknesses of human nature" and the "common living condition of human nature" influenced by popular culture. In her creations, Xinyan portrays different states of humanity, symbolizing the decay and fragmentation of the modern human psyche through "victims." As a humanitarian artist, she focuses on the vulnerable positions of women and children in society.
Her works mainly use oil paint and acrylic as the medium, each of which is full of childlike interest and storytelling. The artist is extremely sensitive to color, and likes to quickly outline and describe the shape, the flowing lines are relaxed and casual, and the passionate creative enthusiasm can be felt through the pictures. She is accustomed to dividing the picture into two parts.
The foreground is a large-area flat-painted figure, and the background is intentionally blurred, using rough lines to describe the body.Her creations do not rely on any pictures, they are often images lingering in memory. Most of the inspiration for creation comes from real events or personal experiences and edge news. In an international cultural context, her creations are subtly influenced by German philosophy and childhood.
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Her solo exhibitions include:
Upsilon Gallery,New York (2024) ; De Sarthe Gallery, Scottsdale (2024) ; Bonian Space, Beijing (2023) ; De Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong(2023) ; Bauschaustelle Düsseldorf e.V, Düsseldorf (2022); Women's Museum Bonn, Bonn (2022), among others.
Recent group exhibitions include:
Plain Gallery, Milan (2024) ; River Art Gallery(2024) ; Künstlerhaus Sootborn, Hamburg (2024) ; Galerie 1565, Hamburg (2023) ; Artual Gallery, Lebanon (2022); Fangyuan Art Gallery, Beijing (2022); GalerieBodenseekreis, Germany (2022); Art Factory HB 55, Berlin (2022); Ultramontane Gallery, Hangzhou (2022); BBK Karlsruhe, Germany (2022).
Xinyan has been nominated for several art awards in Germany, including the 7thEb-Dietzsch Art Award, Förderpreis Jung + Gegenständlich 2022 Art Award inBodenseekreis, Bottrop Art Award in Bottrop, V.Rothe & R.Hendricks Artist Awardin Bonn, and Baustelle Schaustelle Art Award in Düsseldorf.