“The harvest depends on the seasons
Sometimes paintings, sometimes words
Sometimes flower pulp, sometimes photographs
Whatever's ripe we'll dine on tonight”
-Nini Wang, in Harvester, a philosophy of artmaking
Artist Bio
Nini Wang is currently completing her BFA in Studio Arts at Concordia University in Montréal, Canada. Her artworks have been exhibited at the VAV Gallery, featured in the InArte Journal, and highlighted in Concordia’s Fine Arts News. She has received significant support for her artistic practice, including a scholarship from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and a collaborative grant from the Government of Quebec and Concordia University.
Nini is a visual artist known for her mixed media artworks spanning painting, photography, paper pulp, books, and textiles. Blending abstract and figurative elements, her visual language translates both the pieces of reality beheld by her naked eyes and the pieces that elude them — those perceived only by the heart. Her process is open and intuitive, unfolding in such unexpected ways that she’s often surprised and amazed by the final form her own artworks take.
Artist Origins
I didn’t grow up showing any signs of artistic genius—or even a love for drawing, like so many artists seem to describe in their childhoods. In fact, I think my friends and family are still recovering from the shock of my art school announcement. My parents actually admitted in retrospect that the only reason they didn’t try to talk me out of it was because they figured I wouldn’t get in anyway… and when I did, they were just too stunned to say anything (ahahaha! still makes me laugh!).
Before that turning point though, I was laser-focused on professional development. I earned two business degrees with academic honours and spent half a decade building my career. I was full steam ahead on a carefully constructed path—until I was suddenly laid off. But that turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. It was a door opened, with songs and shouts urging me to come outside and play. So I answered. I took time off, and something unexpected started happening. I started catching glimpses of what I had been chasing all along through hard work and achievement—but it was never something to be earned. It was a free gift, waiting patiently for those with open hearts.
I found traces of it in poetry books, on bike rides at sunset, in long conversations around dinner tables. I was unknowingly following the scent of a flower not yet found¹—one that would eventually lead me into a valley full of blooms, alongside their creator, Jesus. The words he spoke, recorded in the Bible, were unlike anything I had ever encountered on this earth, and as I listened, he gently pulled my forgotten and neglected soul out of a deep slumber.
As it is when awakening from a dream or returning home after a long trip abroad, everyday surroundings suddenly begin to look different. Of course, nothing had really changed—yet everything had. With a renewed childlike wonder and enthusiasm, I began noticing these differences. And somewhere along the way, I stumbled upon a love for visual arts— it was like meeting someone new who instantly becomes an old friend, as if you’ve known them your whole life.
¹ from C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
What touched me most were those artists who weren’t just enjoying their craft and creating beauty, but were using it to express their deepest reflections on the human experience. I felt a a longing to do the same so I found a really exciting BFA program and started preparing a portfolio according to their requirements. Throughout the process, however, I remained skeptical of my chances because I didn’t have a formal foundation in fine arts, and the selection process was known to be rigorous—rejection was far more likely than acceptance.
The weight of my doubts culminated the night before the university’s portfolio review event, and as I stood at this crossroads, not knowing what to do with myself and these uncertainties, I prayed and asked Jesus to please light up the path, if this was truly the one for me. The next day, to my greatest surprise, I was accepted on the spot by a drawing and painting professor, who even recommended me to the studio arts selection committee. Honestly, I was so shocked that I thought I had misunderstood her— until the official admissions letter arrived in my inbox the next day. This was the without-a-doubt confirmation I had asked for, and the star illuminating this entire endeavour.
Artist Statement
Artistic Signature
I’ve noticed that I’m drawn to imagery where the edges blur and the forms aren’t immediately recognizable. As I’ve learned to translate my surroundings onto the page, I’ve realized that my naked eyes can only behold some pieces of reality, while other parts remain elusive. We look, but we do not see. Or we see a foggy vision: our eyes collapse the richness of color into something simpler—assigning a single hue to an object, even as ambient light floods it with a thousand subtle shifts. And then there are the things that were never meant to be perceived by the body alone, but by the soul. Who can measure solace or love in a beaker? Yet they’re as real as you and me. Maybe that’s why these misty images feel so irresistible: they let us in on the truth— what we see isn’t all there is.
Artistic Process
The spark that ignites a series of artworks can come from anywhere — a dream, a book, a stranger’s remark. From there, the creative process begins: a kind of wrestling with colors and shapes, words and materials, until form and subject matter begin to hum in harmony.
Often, that initial spark finds expression in one-of-a-kind mixed media artworks, created with unique combinations of materials chosen intuitively. Early-stage sketches aren’t always made with pencil or brush, but through unconventional material experiments — paper pulp, darkroom photograms, or whatever a new series might call for. It’s thinking-through-making, where the materials themselves — with their unique personalities — inspire as much as they construct the artworks. The pace is intentionally slow. It creates space for something essential: a sort of dance between my personal affinities and the steady guidance of the Holy Spirit. With enough time and trust, that indescribable moment arrives — when the art shifts from being a collection of technical elements like shape and pigment to something that sings its own harmonies.
Translating this into fine art prints is never a matter of simple reproduction. Each print is like a sister in the same family — kin to the one-of-a-kind artworks, yet distinct. The challenge lies in fanning that first spark into flame again, and following it faithfully wherever it leads. The resulting prints are not just a retelling, but a deepening of the original narrative. Sometimes, the process moves in sequence — one-of-a-kinds first, then fine art prints, and eventually, sometimes artbooks. On some occasions, all three paths unfold at once, feeding each other in unpredictable ways.
Artistic Essence
Anyone who’s known me for a little while would tell you that “with Nini, you must expect the unexpected— she’s often surprised and amazed by the final form her own artworks take”. This wondrous phenomenon is closely related to my Christian faith, the only true constant in my practice of art and of life. Think of my artworks as fruit baskets brought back from Jesus’ country- while it’s my greatest pleasure that they’d nourish you during the little time we have together at my table, I pray that someday you would bypass me and go straight to the source. Heaven is much closer and more eager to welcome us than we may think.
My artistic practice and my very self are slow works-in-progress, so I owe you a special thanks for being around in these early days — moments to be savoured before they slip away into nostalgia.
Sending love,
Nini