🪞 Through the Looking Glass
Art x Technology x Marketing x Soul
Hi, I'm Ginny Wan 👋
Builder of dreams. Destroyer of illusions. Rebuilder of what matters. Surrealist, always.
I’ve seen what the art world doesn’t want you to see. So I stopped playing by its rules — and started building a new one.
I’ve built and burned businesses, apps, and even my own illusions — until only what felt real remained.
That’s when I discovered:
Art & creative work are portals.
Marketing is a mirror.
Your voice - when rooted in heart-centred truth - has the power to heal and inspire.
I’m here to help you awaken that voice, reclaim your worth, and share and market your work with integrity — in a way that heals, inspires, and connects.
Because what you create isn’t a product — it’s medicine.
And the world needs your creation now more than ever.
I’ve seen what the art world doesn’t want you to see. So I stopped playing by its rules — and started building a new one.
I’ve built and burned businesses, apps, and even my own illusions — until only what felt real remained.
That’s when I discovered:
Art & creative work are portals.
Marketing is a mirror.
Your voice - when rooted in heart-centred truth - has the power to heal and inspire.
I’m here to help you awaken that voice, reclaim your worth, and share and market your work with integrity — in a way that heals, inspires, and connects.
Because what you create isn’t a product — it’s medicine.
And the world needs your creation now more than ever.
Art x Technology x Marketing x Soul
My story? Like any real art — messy, luminous, alive.
At 17, depression swallowed me whole.
At 18, I wandered the streets of Paris, searching for the meaning of existence.
I found it in a quiet art history classroom — and in the galleries and masterpieces that surrounded me.
Art & creativity saved me.
But I couldn’t help but wonder: the beauty, the stories, the meaning — all right there — yet so few truly saw it.
A 2014 New York Times piece (The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum) found that “the average visitor spends just 15 to 30 seconds in front of a work of art.” Why do people spend hours streaming Netflix, yet barely pause before some of the greatest masterpieces in history — even when the stories in those paintings are just as rich, complex, and captivating?
The answer became clear to me: the story behind the masterpiece isn’t accessible to everyone.
The knowledge — how to truly see, feel, and connect with art — is locked away, wrapped in elitist jargon and guarded by gatekeepers. Most people simply don’t have the time, resources, or £25k+ for an art history degree to uncover the social, historical, and emotional layers behind a painting.
For the past decade, I’ve been asking:
How can we make the transformative power of art & creativity accessible to everyone?
How can we return creativity — and the people who create — to the centre?
My mission is simple: to democratise art and creativity — to make the inaccessible unforgettable and bring the healing, transformative power of art and creativity to everyone, everywhere.
At 18, I wandered the streets of Paris, searching for the meaning of existence.
I found it in a quiet art history classroom — and in the galleries and masterpieces that surrounded me.
Art & creativity saved me.
But I couldn’t help but wonder: the beauty, the stories, the meaning — all right there — yet so few truly saw it.
A 2014 New York Times piece (The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum) found that “the average visitor spends just 15 to 30 seconds in front of a work of art.” Why do people spend hours streaming Netflix, yet barely pause before some of the greatest masterpieces in history — even when the stories in those paintings are just as rich, complex, and captivating?
The answer became clear to me: the story behind the masterpiece isn’t accessible to everyone.
The knowledge — how to truly see, feel, and connect with art — is locked away, wrapped in elitist jargon and guarded by gatekeepers. Most people simply don’t have the time, resources, or £25k+ for an art history degree to uncover the social, historical, and emotional layers behind a painting.
For the past decade, I’ve been asking:
How can we make the transformative power of art & creativity accessible to everyone?
How can we return creativity — and the people who create — to the centre?
My mission is simple: to democratise art and creativity — to make the inaccessible unforgettable and bring the healing, transformative power of art and creativity to everyone, everywhere.
At first, I believed the key was inside the traditional art & creative world.
I started at the Louvre — volunteering, wandering its endless corridors, telling strangers the stories behind the art. I watched their eyes light up when they finally saw something, really saw it. That spark — that was what I was chasing.
I thought: maybe more proximity to the art would unlock the answer. So I went deeper..
I interned at auction houses like Christie’s, whispering bids at auctions, arranging private sales in hushed back rooms.
At first, it was intoxicating: priceless paintings. Billionaire collectors. Hidden masterpieces. Private viewings where champagne flowed like tap water.
But beneath the glamour, the same truth kept staring back at me: art was still treated as a trophy for the few — wrapped in language no sane person would willingly speak, guarded by people who seemed to have forgotten what it felt like to feel anything at all.
At first, it was intoxicating: priceless paintings. Billionaire collectors. Hidden masterpieces. Private viewings where champagne flowed like tap water.
But beneath the glamour, the same truth kept staring back at me: art was still treated as a trophy for the few — wrapped in language no sane person would willingly speak, guarded by people who seemed to have forgotten what it felt like to feel anything at all.
But even among the galleries and billionaires, something felt off — like beauty itself had been locked behind glass, stripped of its soul.
So I turned away from the white cubes and stepped into the digital world — luxury brands, tech startups, eCommerce.
At first, it dazzled me: fast, creative, alive.
Here, you could build something from nothing overnight.
But the deeper I went, the more I realised: it was just another kind of cage.
I also saw the same pattern:
Entrepreneurs sacrificing their creativity and authentic voice for profits — clinging to gurus’ templates and competitors’ formulas instead of daring to create something truly their own.
They build soulless brands, and often burn themselves out trying to squeeze into a mold that was never meant for them.
Creators losing their voice in the noise of algorithms, metrics, and copy-paste strategies.
Creativity stripped of meaning...
So I turned away from the white cubes and stepped into the digital world — luxury brands, tech startups, eCommerce.
At first, it dazzled me: fast, creative, alive.
Here, you could build something from nothing overnight.
But the deeper I went, the more I realised: it was just another kind of cage.
I also saw the same pattern:
Entrepreneurs sacrificing their creativity and authentic voice for profits — clinging to gurus’ templates and competitors’ formulas instead of daring to create something truly their own.
They build soulless brands, and often burn themselves out trying to squeeze into a mold that was never meant for them.
Creators losing their voice in the noise of algorithms, metrics, and copy-paste strategies.
Creativity stripped of meaning...
If the art & creative world wouldn’t open its gates,
I need to build a new world entirely...
I need to build a new world entirely...
The global art market, at its peak around $67.8B, may seem significant — until you realise that single companies like Facebook exceed $944B in value, Louis Vuitton earns $26B annually, and even Chanel brings in $19.4B a year.
Art is a universal language, a cultural necessity — yet as an industry, it remains stagnant: gated, exclusive, and resistant to change.
Meanwhile, the broader creative industries — branding, tech, marketing — move fast, innovate constantly, and scale with ease. But too often, they sacrifice meaning and purpose for metrics, building brands that perform but feel hollow.
That tension — between what art is and what it could be, and between what creativity builds and what it could mean — became my fuel.
Art is a universal language, a cultural necessity — yet as an industry, it remains stagnant: gated, exclusive, and resistant to change.
Meanwhile, the broader creative industries — branding, tech, marketing — move fast, innovate constantly, and scale with ease. But too often, they sacrifice meaning and purpose for metrics, building brands that perform but feel hollow.
That tension — between what art is and what it could be, and between what creativity builds and what it could mean — became my fuel.
Art x Technology x Marketing x Soul
🐍The Surreal Art x Tech x Soul Experiments are my answer
A series of experiments in Art × Technology × Soul. Creative, technological, and soulful interventions that empower artists & creators to bypass gatekeepers, rebuild on their own terms and reach their audience directly, and share their work in a way that heals, inspires, and connects.
Each one stretching the limits of what’s possible — wielding technology to make art and creativity accessible to everyone.
Along the way, I’ve lived by the ouroboros: build, destroy, rebuild — on repeat.
Each one stretching the limits of what’s possible — wielding technology to make art and creativity accessible to everyone.
Along the way, I’ve lived by the ouroboros: build, destroy, rebuild — on repeat.
2017
2017
🚽 The Toilet Paper Experiment
Unrealised
A startup idea to print philosophy, poetry, and jokes on toilet paper.
“Why waste 15 minutes a day in silence on the loo?” I asked the judges at a startup bootcamp.
They didn’t laugh. But you might.
“Why waste 15 minutes a day in silence on the loo?” I asked the judges at a startup bootcamp.
They didn’t laugh. But you might.
2018
2018
🎨 Artroom
Retired
A website that matched you with art based on your mood.
Built during a coding bootcamp, then gracefully retired after graduation — because I didn’t yet know how to market it.
Built during a coding bootcamp, then gracefully retired after graduation — because I didn’t yet know how to market it.
2019
2019
📱Artify
Prototyped, but unrealised
A “Shazam for art” — crowdsourcing art history knowledge and making learning fun.
Too ambitious, too early, too underfunded. Beautiful idea — just not its time.
Too ambitious, too early, too underfunded. Beautiful idea — just not its time.
2020-2023
2020-2023
Surreal Digital, Freelance & Digital Marketing Agency
I pivoted. If the art world wouldn’t open its gates, maybe tech would.
I built a digital marketing agency — scaling eCommerce, luxury, tech brands, and a few artists and galleries.
We managed over $5M in ad spend, helped some clients hit 6 and 7 figures in months, and even landed Silicon Valley startups.
On paper, it was a success.
But beneath it? Ego. People-pleasing. Burnout.
It taught me the difference between building for validation — and building for your soul.
I paid the price: my health, my creativity, my joy.
So I burned it all down and started again — this time from the heart.
I built a digital marketing agency — scaling eCommerce, luxury, tech brands, and a few artists and galleries.
We managed over $5M in ad spend, helped some clients hit 6 and 7 figures in months, and even landed Silicon Valley startups.
On paper, it was a success.
But beneath it? Ego. People-pleasing. Burnout.
It taught me the difference between building for validation — and building for your soul.
I paid the price: my health, my creativity, my joy.
So I burned it all down and started again — this time from the heart.
2022-2023
2022-2023
Metasurreal
Dormant. https://www.metasurreal.art/
When NFTs exploded, so did my curiosity. I launched MetaSurreal to help artists turn their physical art into digital twins.
We were flooded with leads — everyone hoping NFTs would finally bring them income.
But the truth was unavoidable: most hadn’t yet learned how to market their physical art, and NFTs required the same skills. Without strategy and story, the tokens felt hollow — just more art adrift in the void.
So I chose to pause. Because hype fades, but integrity lasts.
I still believe in the power of digital and phygital art — and I know that when the technology and the artists are ready, its time will come.
We were flooded with leads — everyone hoping NFTs would finally bring them income.
But the truth was unavoidable: most hadn’t yet learned how to market their physical art, and NFTs required the same skills. Without strategy and story, the tokens felt hollow — just more art adrift in the void.
So I chose to pause. Because hype fades, but integrity lasts.
I still believe in the power of digital and phygital art — and I know that when the technology and the artists are ready, its time will come.
2022–Now
2022–Now
Surreal Digital Academy
I turned everything I’d learned — the strategies, insights, and hard-won lessons from the trenches of agency life — into an accessible online course platform for artists and creators to thrive.
Surreal Digital Academy helps artists and creatives how to market their art online, reach their collectors directly, and reclaim their voice — with integrity, confidence, and soul.
Surreal Digital Academy helps artists and creatives how to market their art online, reach their collectors directly, and reclaim their voice — with integrity, confidence, and soul.
2025 & Beyond
2025 & Beyond
🤖 Surreal AI
Work in progress. Launching September 2025
Building tools that empower artists & creative entrepreneurs to access a new dimension of creativity — and market their work more soulfully and efficiently.
Powered by AI. Rooted in soul.
Powered by AI. Rooted in soul.
Art x Technology x Marketing x Soul
Our Mission & Our Philosophy
Our mission: to fuse creativity, technology, and soul — empowering artists and creatives to thrive on their own terms, and sharing the healing, transformative power of art with anyone, anywhere.
Our philosophy: We believe the best marketing taps the unconscious — where dreams, desires, fears, and hidden truths live. Like the Surrealists, we know creativity flows when you bypass logic and let the unconscious speak. By diving into these surreal depths, we craft strategies that resonate, move people, and make every interaction unforgettable. Your best art — and your most authentic marketing — come from this place. We’ve distilled it into 7 surreal art marketing principles that fuse art, soul, and strategy.
Our philosophy: We believe the best marketing taps the unconscious — where dreams, desires, fears, and hidden truths live. Like the Surrealists, we know creativity flows when you bypass logic and let the unconscious speak. By diving into these surreal depths, we craft strategies that resonate, move people, and make every interaction unforgettable. Your best art — and your most authentic marketing — come from this place. We’ve distilled it into 7 surreal art marketing principles that fuse art, soul, and strategy.
Art x Technology x Marketing x Soul
| Why? 🕊 Why I Do This 🌱 Personal — Awaken the creator and visionary within each individual. 🌎 Collective — Lift the collective unconscious through art and creations that heal, inspire, and connect. 🪄 Philosophical — Show that beauty is not a luxury but a birthright, and that art & creativity can elevate humanity. 🤖 Method — Fuse art & creativity, technology, and soul to make this possible. 🔥 Outcome — A ripple effect of creators reclaiming their voices, making transformative work, and inspiring others to live more artfully and meaningfully. 🧠 Why I'm Qualified 🎤 Guest lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art & University College London 🎨 Volunteered and interned at institutions and auction houses including the Louvre and Christie’s 🚀 Led $5M+ in ad spend for ECom, tech, and luxury brands 🎓 BA Philosophy, University College London 🎓 MSc Management, London Business School 🔮 Certified NLP & Hypnotherapy Practitioner, trained under Paul McKenna & Dr. Richard Bandler 🪐 Fun Facts 🌬My best ideas comes in altered states — trance, breathwork, psychedelics, alpha, delta & theta states. 🔮 I believe creativity is a sacred force. 🎲 I still might launch that toilet paper company. |
Art x Technology x Marketing x Soul
Featured at
