Portal to Dreamland
This exhibition marks Zhang Xinyi Selina’s (张心怡, 1996) first solo show in Japan. Like a doorway into a dreamland, she hopes that as visitors step into her inner world, they will feel the childlike wonder that shapes her art: a deep curiosity for the world, untainted and pure. At the same time, she invites them to rediscover a part of themselves: an inner spark of innocence and imagination that may have been quietly forgotten in the rhythm of daily life.
The artist’s creation draws inspiration from her self-discovery journey and spiritual practices, her work is deeply influenced by the Chinese Daoism philosophy, the work of Sigmund Freud, and Carl Gustav Jung. For Selina, the practice of everyday drawing is a self-disciplinary tool where the intuitive and improvised drawings serve as mirrors for her emotions, she started to draw one drawing per day in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, as a methodology to help her recognize her own emotions, and as an outlet for her feelings of the day. As the work grew and accumulated, the drawings moved from everyday happenings to deeper, more abstract, and spiritual reflections of her inner world. They became the foundation for her colored paintings, sculptures, and installations.
There is a strong sense of duality in her work. The creations derive from personal experiences yet are universal and deeply relatable to a greater audience. She critiques the current system, yet the outcome is always positive and hopeful.
Her creations explore a world beyond the physical realities: a world of intangible networks, energies, transient emotions, nature, the origin of life, and fascination with the universe.
Regarding materiality, the artist prefers to experiment and incorporate different media in her creations: ink drawings, colored pencil drawings, watercolor paintings, oil paintings, ceramic sculptures, and 3D-printing sculptures. In her exhibitions and events, the artist creates an interactive environment that serves as a “parallel world” that temporarily transports the audience away from the current reality, which is efficiency and outcome-oriented, and focuses on human connections with the surroundings, each other, and self; the exhibitions often incorporate music, technology, and movement.
With relentless creativity and an open mind, she continuously explores the boundaries of art, striving to build a world rich in connection and inspiration across diverse cultures and media.
梦境之门
本次展览是张心怡（Zhang Xinyi Selina，1996年生）在日本的首次个展。她希望这个展览能如同通往梦境的入口，当观众走入她的内心世界时，能够感受到那种贯穿她创作的童年般的好奇与惊奇——一种对世界深刻而纯净的探索欲望。同时，她也邀请观众借此契机重新唤起自身的一部分：那份在日常节奏中悄然被遗忘的天真与想象力。
艺术家的创作灵感源于她对自我内在的探索与灵性实践。她的作品深受中国道家哲学、以及西方心理学家西格蒙德·弗洛伊德与卡尔·荣格思想的影响。对张心怡而言，每日的绘画实践是一种自我训练方式，这些直觉性、即兴性的绘画，如同情绪的镜子，帮助她识别和释放每日的情感。自2020年疫情初期开始，她坚持每天创作一幅画，起初是对日常生活的记录，随着时间的推移，这些作品逐渐转向更抽象、更具精神性的内在反思，并最终成为她色彩绘画、雕塑与装置创作的根基。
她的作品中充满了强烈的“二元性”特质：既源自个人经验，却又具有普世共鸣；批判现有体系，但最终传递的却总是温柔而希望的声音。
她的创作致力于探索超越现实世界的维度——一个由无形能量、情绪流动、自然、生之本源与对宇宙的无限想象所构成的世界。
在媒介选择上，她不断尝试与跨界融合：包括墨绘、彩铅、水彩、油画、陶瓷雕塑，以及3D打印雕塑等。在展览与艺术活动中，她常通过互动装置营造一个“平行世界”，短暂地将观众从以效率与结果为导向的现实中抽离出来，引导他们重新关注人与环境、他者与自身之间的关系。展览中常融入音乐、科技与身体动作，为观者打开多感官的体验之门。
她以源源不断的创造力与开放的心态，不断突破艺术的边界，试图在多元文化与媒介之间，建构一个充满联结与灵感的世界。
Catagory: Exhibition
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Gallery: Zaza Galerie
Year: 2025
This exhibition marks Zhang Xinyi Selina’s (张心怡, 1996) first solo show in Japan. Like a doorway into a dreamland, she hopes that as visitors step into her inner world, they will feel the childlike wonder that shapes her art: a deep curiosity for the world, untainted and pure. At the same time, she invites them to rediscover a part of themselves: an inner spark of innocence and imagination that may have been quietly forgotten in the rhythm of daily life.
The artist’s creation draws inspiration from her self-discovery journey and spiritual practices, her work is deeply influenced by the Chinese Daoism philosophy, the work of Sigmund Freud, and Carl Gustav Jung. For Selina, the practice of everyday drawing is a self-disciplinary tool where the intuitive and improvised drawings serve as mirrors for her emotions, she started to draw one drawing per day in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, as a methodology to help her recognize her own emotions, and as an outlet for her feelings of the day. As the work grew and accumulated, the drawings moved from everyday happenings to deeper, more abstract, and spiritual reflections of her inner world. They became the foundation for her colored paintings, sculptures, and installations.
There is a strong sense of duality in her work. The creations derive from personal experiences yet are universal and deeply relatable to a greater audience. She critiques the current system, yet the outcome is always positive and hopeful.
Her creations explore a world beyond the physical realities: a world of intangible networks, energies, transient emotions, nature, the origin of life, and fascination with the universe.
Regarding materiality, the artist prefers to experiment and incorporate different media in her creations: ink drawings, colored pencil drawings, watercolor paintings, oil paintings, ceramic sculptures, and 3D-printing sculptures. In her exhibitions and events, the artist creates an interactive environment that serves as a “parallel world” that temporarily transports the audience away from the current reality, which is efficiency and outcome-oriented, and focuses on human connections with the surroundings, each other, and self; the exhibitions often incorporate music, technology, and movement.
With relentless creativity and an open mind, she continuously explores the boundaries of art, striving to build a world rich in connection and inspiration across diverse cultures and media.
梦境之门
本次展览是张心怡（Zhang Xinyi Selina，1996年生）在日本的首次个展。她希望这个展览能如同通往梦境的入口，当观众走入她的内心世界时，能够感受到那种贯穿她创作的童年般的好奇与惊奇——一种对世界深刻而纯净的探索欲望。同时，她也邀请观众借此契机重新唤起自身的一部分：那份在日常节奏中悄然被遗忘的天真与想象力。
艺术家的创作灵感源于她对自我内在的探索与灵性实践。她的作品深受中国道家哲学、以及西方心理学家西格蒙德·弗洛伊德与卡尔·荣格思想的影响。对张心怡而言，每日的绘画实践是一种自我训练方式，这些直觉性、即兴性的绘画，如同情绪的镜子，帮助她识别和释放每日的情感。自2020年疫情初期开始，她坚持每天创作一幅画，起初是对日常生活的记录，随着时间的推移，这些作品逐渐转向更抽象、更具精神性的内在反思，并最终成为她色彩绘画、雕塑与装置创作的根基。
她的作品中充满了强烈的“二元性”特质：既源自个人经验，却又具有普世共鸣；批判现有体系，但最终传递的却总是温柔而希望的声音。
她的创作致力于探索超越现实世界的维度——一个由无形能量、情绪流动、自然、生之本源与对宇宙的无限想象所构成的世界。
在媒介选择上，她不断尝试与跨界融合：包括墨绘、彩铅、水彩、油画、陶瓷雕塑，以及3D打印雕塑等。在展览与艺术活动中，她常通过互动装置营造一个“平行世界”，短暂地将观众从以效率与结果为导向的现实中抽离出来，引导他们重新关注人与环境、他者与自身之间的关系。展览中常融入音乐、科技与身体动作，为观者打开多感官的体验之门。
她以源源不断的创造力与开放的心态，不断突破艺术的边界，试图在多元文化与媒介之间，建构一个充满联结与灵感的世界。
Catagory: Exhibition
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Gallery: Zaza Galerie
Year: 2025
