ALONE TOGETHER is a painting by Lavia Lin who will also be a guest artist this summer and paint to the live music.

Jazz plays a vital inspirational role in her life and has helped her to connect cultures through painting an music.
Here is her story:

Lavia (Yanzi) Lin, born in 1995, is from Shanghai,China. Lavia was the name she gave to herself at 3 years old, an unusual name she preferred to her birth name, with the Italian meaning of “the way”. Along her way, she came to Berlin in 2014 to pursue her studies in art. She is charmed by the multicultural city and its vibrant art scene featuring international artists.  She studied art and philosophy at Bard College Berlin, an interesting combination which allowed her to explore different fields and expressions. 

She started painting at 7 years old, as a child, she has shown sensitivity in colours and for her, colours have become a way of expressing herself. She attended weekend classes at “Creative Art”, which she called her cradle of creativity for 10 years. She learned the mixed media and various painting techniques there before developing her own artistic style. She sees colours in relation to emotions and melodies. In Shanghai, she has dedicated her art work to charity by participating in charity auctions. Already at the age of 16, in 2012 she had her first solo exhibition “Sentimental Colours” at Chamber of Commerce in Hamburg as cultural program of “China Time," celebrating the friendship of sister-cities: Shanghai-Hamburg, as a girl from Shanghai who loves Hamburg.

Already at the age of 16, in 2012 she had her first solo exhibition “Sentimental Colours” at Chamber of Commerce in Hamburg as cultural program of “China Time," celebrating the friendship of sister-cities: Shanghai-Hamburg, as a girl from Shanghai who loves Hamburg.

Growing in the family owned Bar House of Blues & Jazz in Shanghai, her sensitive ears have been beautifully toned up by the musical surroundings. Instead of playing instruments, she prefers to be an attentive listener. 

Since 2016 summer after the discovery of the lively but rather hidden jazz scene in Berlin, she has become an active concert-jam sessions goer to support the young jazz musicians. You will often find her figure in jazz bars and at jazz concerts, sitting among the audience, her body moving naturally to the music.

In the summer of 2016, she met Mini Kapur, the owner of the gallery Under the mango Tree, at a jazz concert there, as soon as she stepped into the space, she was excited by its intimate space. She got the internship opportunity for three months. Through mutual understanding and the love for music and art they both share, knowing her activity in the jazz scene, Mini offered her the platform to support her love for jazz music, by hosting a Jazz Festival in the gallery. The duo series “When you talk to me”, featured 5 concerts from young international players in Berlin. The festival was well-visited and acknowledged by jazz lovers, as well as musicians. 

Lavia´s  love for jazz has become her artistic inspiration. She uses her colours and paintings to express the intensive emotional responses she gets from listening to jazz music.

Lavia has started an ongoing project “Jazz paintings” dedicated to some of the jazz standards she enjoys. She wishes to explore the artistic expression of music through painting. Her open-mindedness attracts like-minded international young artists to create projects together, in the summer of 2017, she started the project with an Italian Band, Satoyama where she made improvised paintings during their live performances. They performed in Ljubljana, Slovenia and at Jazzit Festival in Feltre, Italy.In 2017 December, they performed in Berlin.

Exhibitions:
Shanghai, China
• 1.Juni 2008 “Charity Auction of Painting Exhibition” at Le Royal Meridien, Shanghai (The auction was for the orphans in Wenchuan Earthquake)
• Group exhibition “We mix it up”
• 28.February —6 March 2014 Participated at CSS / SWF Fundraising Art Exhibition “Children Around the World” as Artist representing Germany

Abroad
• 10.August 2012 Solo Exhibition “The Sentimental Colors” at Chamber of Commerce, Hamburg,Germany
• 10.Sep - 17.Sep 2016 Group Exhibition “Räume” TheWorkspace Lindenstraße 20, Berlin
• 21.Sep-30. Sep 2018 Group Exhibition “Räume 2” Kopenhagenerstraße 60,13407, Berlin