MY PAINTINGS

VICTORIA Y MAR (ZHOU XIAOYA)

About Victoria Y Mar (Zhou Xiaoya)

Victoria Y Mar is a Berlin and Barcelona based artist and musician whose work is shaped by music and by the cities that have formed her: Shanghai, Berlin, Barcelona and New York. Born in China, she studied in Shanghai and at the Universität der Künste (UDK) in Berlin.

Her early career was rooted in music. She performed with the Berliner Symphonie Orchester from 1994 to 1998, before pursuing an international career as a soloist and quartet violinist. In 1997, she met the French Informel artist Georges Noël at an exhibition in Berlin, a meeting that would mark the beginning of her transition from music to painting. Under his mentorship, she learned modern painting techniques and developed her own abstract, gestural style.

With over two decades of practice, Victoria Y Mar paints as a conduit for the unconscious. Motifs of nature and spirituality inhabit her works, which resist categorisation. Each canvas evolves uniquely during the creative process, shaped by its own internal logic. Rich, vibrant tones, dynamic compositions and flowing, rhythmic lines combine to create a synaesthetic experience that merges sound and vision.

Recent exhibitions include solo and group presentations at F37 Gallery Berlin, Gallery OLYMP Berlin, Galerie Saint Honoré in Paris, OCCO Art Gallery in Madrid, Gallery Buat Fine Art in Barcelona, the Schlossmuseum Greiz, Tusche Art Gallery in Weimar and Bremen, and ARTMUC Munich in 2025, followed by the Affordable Art Fair Battersea in London, Strzelski Galerie Stuttgart and Discovery Art Fair Cologne earlier in 2026.

Upcoming shows in 2026 include the International Contemporary Art Fair Zürich in June, the Women in Art Biennale London in August, a solo exhibition at Art Nova Gallery Berlin, the Affordable Art Fair New York in September and her first appearance at Red Dot Miami during Art Basel in December.

Victoria Y Mar lives and works between Berlin and Barcelona.

Exhibitions from September 2024 to the end of November 2026

F37 Gallery Berlin:
20. September – 18. October 2024

Gallery OLYMP:
08. December 2024 – 31. January 2025

Gallery Saint Honoré Paris:
01. March – 30. April 2025

OCCO Art Gallery Madrid:
15. May – 30. May 2025

Gallery Buat Fine Art
Sant Pere Més Alt 37, Barcelona
15 May – 18 May Group exhibition

Tusche-Art gallery Weimar:
15. September – 09. October 2025

Tusche-Art gallery Bremen:
10. October – 10. November 2025

Greiz Schloss Museen:
03. October – 26. November 2025

ARTMUC Export Munich:
10-12. October 2025

AFFORDABLE ART FAIR
Battersea London England
04–08. March, 2026

strzelski Galerie Stuttgart Germany
06–08. March, 2026

DISCOVERY ART FAIR
COLOGNE Köln Germany
23-26. April, 2026
PARTICIPATION CONTRACT
PHYSICAL EXHIBITION

ZÜRICH Switzerland
INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR
12-14. June, 2026
PARTICIPATION CONTRACT
PHYSICAL EXHIBITION

WOMEN IN ART
BIENNALE London England
20-23. August, 2026

EXHIBITION ART NOVA GALLERY
Berlin, Germany
28 August – 29 September, 2026

AFFORDABLE ART FAIR
Battersea New York, USA
16-20 September, 2026

ART BASEL RED DOT
Miami, USA
2-6 December, 2026

Artworks

China Garden
Acrylic on Canvas – L(80 x 80cm) x M (80 x 120cm) x R(80 x 80cm)

The China Garden triptych is a visual journey inspired by Chinese folklore and music. Initially influenced by Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, the artist’s focus underwent a significant shift in response to world events. When the Ukrainian war broke out in February 2022, the political climate and cultural sensitivities surrounding Russian music prompted the artist to pause her original thematic direction. During March and April in Barcelona, she felt a growing discomfort in continuing with Russian musical influences, leading her to reimagine her artistic narrative. This transition allowed her to delve into the rich tapestry of Chinese culture, drawing inspiration from the theme of the Jasmin Flower in folklore. The China Garden triptych became a vibrant expression of hope and renewal, moving away from the dark, chaotic energy of Night on Bald Mountain to embrace the serene beauty of Chinese traditions. This shift symbolizes a reclamation of artistic identity and a desire to reflect positivity in the face of adversity, creating a harmonious blend of visual storytelling and cultural exploration.

No.1 La Mer Trois Symphonies
Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 200cm

This painting serves as the centerpiece of the exhibition. Inspired by Claude Debussy’s La Mer, it evokes the grandeur and mystery of the sea through fluid brushstrokes and vibrant color palettes. The viewer is invited to experience the symphonic ebb and flow of the ocean, much like Debussy’s musical composition, which captures the essence of water’s constant movement.

No.3 Original Newyork
Acrylic on Canvas 73 x 90cm

No. 2 Arctic Fantasy
Acrylic on Canvas 97 x 120cm

Forest Murmurs – No. 1: Encounter; No. 2: Dreams of Love; No. 3: Memory (from left to right).

These three paintings were inspired by the piano music of the composer Franz Liszt: “Forest Murmurs” and “Dreams of Love”.

Acrylic on Canvas – Each painting 50 x 70cm

The Waldersauschen series, comprising Begegnung (Encounter), Liebestraum (Love Dream), and Erinnerung (Remembrance), captures the rich interplay between nature, emotion, and memory, as experienced within the serene backdrop of a whispering forest. Each piece reflects a different facet of the human condition, evoking profound connections between the natural world and the inner workings of the heart and mind.

In Begegnung (Encounter), the mystical and fleeting moments of discovery are captured as the swaying trees and soft murmurs of the forest mirror the emotions of an unexpected meeting. Nature here serves as a bridge between the physical and spiritual realms, much like Debussy’s evocative musical compositions, where layers of sound invoke deep introspection and connection.

Liebestraum (Love Dream), inspired by Liszt’s famous composition, explores the dreamlike quality of love. The painting blends the fluidity of the forest’s natural sounds with the ethereal nature of romantic longing. Through a delicate play of light and shadow, it captures both the tenderness and transience of love, reflecting the fragile balance between reality and dream.

Erinnerung (Remembrance) delves into the realm of memory, drawing on the nostalgic tones of nature. Here, the forest represents the past, with its rustling leaves symbolizing memories that resurface and fade over time. The piece reflects the bittersweet nature of recollection, where moments of joy are interwoven with the passing of time, much like the gradual fading of a familiar melody.

Together, these three works invite viewers into a meditative journey, where the forest serves as a metaphor for the cycles of life, love, and memory, while nature’s eternal rhythms echo our most intimate experiences.

It becomes sound
Acrylic on Canvas 150 x 200cm

I created this painting based on the music of “Es wird klang”. It becomes Sound “The horn concerto” of Jörg Widmann was composed for Stefan Dohr, the principal horn player of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. On May 30 this year, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra premiered this horn concerto by Stefan Dohr, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. The timbre of the horn is completely different from the timbre of the horns in the past, and is very avant-garde. The composer tells an original story.

The four seasons
Acrylic on Canvas 90 x 73cm

See Of Flowers
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 70 x 50cm

By the Brook in Spring
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 100 x 120cm

Autumn Song
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 50cm

Fireworks
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

Ode to the Moon, No.3
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 120 x 100cm

The Golden Hubertus See
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 90 x 73cm

The Surging Love flowers No.1
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

The Surging Love flowers No.2
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

The Surging Love flowers No.3
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

The Surging Love flowers No.4
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 50cm

La Mer Song No.1
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

La Mer Song No.2
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

On Wings of Song

Felix Mendelssohn’s celebrated lied unfolds across two canvases, in two voices. In the first, crimson, blush and deep navy lift in soft plumes, like rose petals carried on a current of breath. The palette is warm and intimate, the song one of tenderness and quiet ardour, a whispered promise of flight. In the second, the song takes wing in full voice. Magenta, emerald and deep blue burst upward in a rhapsody of plumage, weightless and exuberant, the moment when melody lifts free of the earth. Victoria Y Mar paints as one composes, each gesture a phrase, each colour a note sustained or released. The repeating motif of the feather binds the pair, intimate and insistent in one canvas, scattering skyward in the other. Where the first whispers, the second carries upward. A synaesthetic offering in which painting itself takes flight.

On Wings of Song No.1
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

On Wings of Song No.2
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

Ode to the moon Oil
Acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

This painting is directly inspired by Antonín Dvořák’s piece of the same name. The moon, a central figure in this work, casts a silver glow over the landscape, echoing the lyrics: “Oh Moon, tell me, where does my beloved ?” The serene and luminous painting reflects the calm and reflective qualities of the music, while also capturing the romantic longing found in Dvořák’s composition.

The Calm After the Storm
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 50 x 70cm

The season of blooming Flowers No.1
Acrylic on Canvas 60 x 60cm

The Surging Love Flowers No.4
Oil, acrylic on Canvas 60 x 60cm

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A midsummer night unfolds in two movements. In the first canvas, pink, emerald and deep blue collide in a cascade of blossom and movement, as though the forest itself were dancing. At the centre left, a single calligraphic flourish in green rises like a line of melody made visible, a treble clef hovering between branches. The second canvas hushes to a whisper. Indigo, violet and soft green dissolve into one another like mist over water, forming emerging and receding, never quite settling, as though seen through the veil of sleep. Victoria Y Mar paints in response to Felix Mendelssohn’s celebrated overture, channeling first its mischief and shimmer, then the stillness at its heart. Together the works trace the arc of enchantment itself: the woodland revel where every leaf seems to whisper a different song, and the dream that lingers after waking, tender and almost weightless.