闫晓静个展《松下幽径 云上人踪（Under the Pines, Over the Clouds）》滑铁卢大学艺术展览馆闭展
（《国际艺术新闻网》实习记者 Yuanxi Li报道）闫晓静个展《松下幽径 云上人踪(Under the Pines, Over the Clouds)》于1月9日在滑铁卢大学艺术展览馆（UWAG）开幕。本次展览汇集了她近几年的代表作品，以珍珠、松针或灵芝等材料创造出的装置，深入探索人文与自然景观之间复杂而微妙的关联。展览将持续至2025年3月8日。
Yan Xiaojing’s solo exhibition “Under the Pines, Over the Clouds” opened on January 9,2025 at University of Waterloo Art Gallery( UWAG). This exhibition brings together her representative works from recent years, featuring installations created with materials such as pearls, pine needles, and lingzhi mushrooms, which deeply explore the intricate and subtle relationships between human and natural landscapes . The exhibition runs until March 8, 2025.
旅居加拿大多年的闫晓静，工作和生活在安省的万锦市，拥有宾夕法尼亚印第安纳大学艺术硕士学位和南京艺术学院艺术学士学位。闫晓静的艺术实践植根于其跨文化经历，通过观念性创作手法和多元材料实验，揭示了艺术家对身份认同、文化差异的洞察，以及对自然界与人类社会共生共荣关系的深刻哲思。在此次与滑铁卢大学的合作中，闫晓静以自然中的日常材料为媒介，创作出独特的装置作品，在传统东方符号与西方超现实主义美学之间架起了一座开放而包容的对话桥梁。
Live and work in Markham, Ontario, Canada, Yan Xiaojing holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from Nanjing University of the Arts (UWAG). Her artistic practice is rooted in cross-cultural experiences, employing conceptual approaches and experimental use of diverse materials to uncover profound insights into identity, cultural differences, and the symbiotic relationship between the natural world and human society. These works not only reflect the artist’s personal experiences but also provide audiences with a unique lens to examine the interconnectedness of humans and nature. Through her collaboration with the University of Waterloo, Yan uses everyday natural materials as a medium, crafting distinctive installations that establish an open and inclusive dialogue between traditional Eastern symbols and Western surrealist aesthetics.
在主展厅中，作品《Far from where you divined》被拆分成两组，分别安置于展厅两侧，形成一种遥相呼应的空间对话。作品以鹿、兔子等动物意象与灵芝这一自然材料相结合，强调了万物共生共存的理念。鹿被视为灵芝的引导者，兔子则与长寿文化密切相关，而灵芝自古以来被视为“仙草”，具有独特的文化内涵。这种对自然与生命的象征性阐释，既延续了中国传统绘画中常见的文化符号，又在现代艺术的语境中重新解读了生命与自然的循环关系。
In the main exhibition hall, Far from where you divined is divided into two groups, installed on opposite sides of the space, creating a spatial dialogue that resonates across the room. The work combines natural materials like lingzhi mushrooms with animal imagery, including deer and rabbits, to emphasize the concept of coexistence among all living things (Yan, Far from where you divined). In this piece, the deer act as guides to the lingzhi, while the rabbits symbolize longevity, and the lingzhi itself has long been revered as the “herb of immortality” with rich cultural connotations. This symbolic interpretation of nature and life bridges traditional Chinese painting motifs with a contemporary reimagining of the cyclical relationship between life and nature. The deliberate spatial arrangement adds narrative depth to the piece, inviting viewers to engage with it from multiple perspectives.
与之呼应的，是主展厅最深处的《Lingzhi Girl》系列装置。作为艺术家早期的重要作品，《Lingzhi Girl》以半人半物的形态将灵芝的生长特性与生命轮回相融合，探讨灵芝生长特性与生命循环的隐喻，深入思考生死关系与共生哲学。《礼记·内则》和《吕氏春秋》中早在公元前300年就已记载灵芝，《神农本草经》更将其列为“上上之药”，认为其具有益心气、增智慧、延年益寿的特性。灵芝的神化不仅源于其药效与稀有性，更被道教赋予了超越现实的生命象征，艺术家通过具象化的艺术语言呈现了生命循环的哲学意涵。
Echoing this piece is the Lingzhi Girl series, located at the far end of the main hall. As an important early work of the artist, Lingzhi Girl merges the growth characteristics of lingzhi mushrooms with the cycle of life, exploring metaphors of growth and reincarnation to delve into the relationship between life and death, as well as the philosophy of coexistence (Yan, Lingzhi Girl). The artist incorporates references to classical texts such as The Book of Rites and Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals, situating the lingzhi’s symbolic significance within a contemporary context. Notably, lingzhi is celebrated in these traditional records not only as a symbol of longevity but also as an embodiment of spiritual transcendence. This transcendence is vividly expressed in the tangible yet poetic language of the installation.
展厅左侧的《Mountain of Pines》，在松针、丝绸与光影的交织中，展现出中国传统山水画中空灵飘渺、极致静谧的景致。而松，自古以来在中国文化中象征长寿，被誉为“岁寒三友”之一。《诗经》曾以“如南山之寿不崩，如松柏之茂”来祝寿，松树也因此成为延年益寿的吉祥象征。在这件作品中，艺术家以动态的展陈方式，将静态的材料与空间互动融合，赋予作品持久的生命力和文化韵味。
On the left side of the gallery, Mountain of Pines, where pine needles, silk, and the interplay of light and shadow intertwine, reveals the ethereal and tranquil scenery reminiscent of traditional Chinese landscape paintings (Yan, Mountain of Pines). The pine has long been a symbol of longevity in Chinese culture and is known as one of the “Three Friends of Winter.” In The Book of Poetry, the phrase “The life of the southern mountain will not crumble, and the pine and cypress will flourish” is used to celebrate longevity. As a result, the pine tree has become an auspicious symbol of enduring life. In this work, the artist uses a dynamic display method to integrate static materials with the surrounding space, imbuing the piece with lasting vitality and cultural resonance.
在主展厅右侧墙上，青铜装置《Marking》揭示了平凡事物所蕴含的意义。鞋带、绳索、线、钥匙、纽扣……这些日常生活中不起眼的物品，承载着深厚的家庭记忆。艺术家将这些平凡却富有情感的物品印记，通过古老的失蜡铸造技术，转化为青铜雕塑，使这些细微之处得以永恒，展现了女性无私奉献对家庭的悠久影响。而VR作品《Whispers of the Mountain Spirit》，则结合虚拟现实技术，将自然、技术与精神世界融合，带领观众超越物理世界的边界，探索一种全新的艺术维度。
On the right wall of the main gallery, the bronze installation Marking reveals the meaning embedded in ordinary objects. Shoelaces, ropes, threads, keys, and buttons—mundane items of daily life—carry deep familial memories (Yan, Marking). The artist transforms these seemingly insignificant yet emotionally charged objects into bronze sculptures using the ancient technique of lost-wax casting, immortalizing these subtle details and illustrating the enduring impact of women’s selfless contributions to their families. Meanwhile, the VR work Whispers of the Mountain Spirit merges nature, technology, and spirituality through virtual reality technology, leading viewers to transcend the boundaries of the physical world and explore a new dimension of artistic experience (Yan, Whispers of the Mountain Spirit).
副展厅展出的《Spirit Cloud》由33,000颗淡水珍珠通过透明丝线悬挂而成，珍珠如同凝结的水珠，模拟出灵芝与云朵的飘逸形态，营造出实体化的视觉错觉。自古以来，祥云一直被视为神圣与祝福的象征，其形态亦与灵芝（长生不老药）十分相似，蕴含深厚的文化意涵。与此同时，云作为阴阳交融的象征，体现了水与气、天空与大地等元素的和谐共生。这件装置通过材质与形式的巧妙结合，深刻诠释了自然与文化、超越与永恒之间的多重联系。
In the adjacent gallery, Spirit Cloud consists of 33,000 freshwater pearls suspended by transparent silk threads. The pearls, resembling condensed water droplets, mimic the ethereal forms of lingzhi mushrooms and clouds, creating a visual illusion of materialization (Yan, Spirit Cloud). In Chinese culture, auspicious clouds have long been regarded as symbols of sanctity and blessing, bearing a visual resemblance to lingzhi, the “elixir of immortality,” and carrying deep cultural connotations. At the same time, clouds, as symbols of yin and yang, embody the harmonious balance of water and air, sky and earth. Through the skillful combination of material and form, this installation profoundly interprets the multiple connections between nature and culture, transcendence and eternity.
闫晓静的个展《Under the Pines, Over the Clouds》通过她独特的艺术语言和创新的材料运用，深刻揭示了自然与文化、生命与死亡、传统与现代之间的复杂关系。此次展览，无论是在视觉冲击力还是思想深度上，都为观众提供了丰富的艺术体验。
Yan Xiaojing’s solo exhibition Under the Pines, Over the Clouds employs her distinctive artistic language and innovative material applications to explore the complex relationships between nature and culture, life and death, tradition and modernity. This exhibition provides audiences with a rich artistic experience, both visually impactful and intellectually stimulating. It resembles a lingzhi mushroom growing in the cracks of an art gallery—belonging neither purely to Eastern mysticism nor to Western technological worship, but quietly nurturing a third possibility within the intersecting mycelial network of the two.
