Wallace Chan’s 50-Year Career Detailed In An Art Exhibition In China

Wallace Chan returns to his high jewelry creations through an exhibition being held in China of his bejeweled masterpieces during his 50-year career.

The exhibition, “Wallace Chan: Half a Century,” will be on view July 3 – October 7 at the Shanghai Museum East. With more than 200 of his high jewelry art pieces, its is his largest exhibition to date, which is quite a statement for the high jewelry artist who has seen his share of big exhibitions in recent years.

The versatile artist currently has an exhibition of his large titanium sculptures in Venice. In September 2023, Christie’s London held an unprecedented exhibition of more than 150 of his jewels and sculptures titled, “The Wheel of Time.” It was the fifth time Christie’s hosted an exhibition of Chan’s creations and it was the first time Christie’s London dedicated its entire gallery space for one artist.

The upcoming exhibition is also unprecedented, as it is the first time creations from a living artist will exhibit at Shanghai Museum East. It also is the first in a series of exhibitions the museum is hosting titled, “Drawing Inspiration from the Past: Masters of Modern and Contemporary Art.”

Chu Xiaobo, director of the Shanghai Museum, says the exhibition series “highlights esteemed modern and contemporary artists from both domestic and international arenas, presenting classic works, pioneering curatorial and exhibition methods, interpreting humanistic values, and drawing wisdom and inspiration from the traditional cultures of East and West.”

Chan’s exhibition is designed to allow visitors to enter the creative world of the artist and innovator. Chan has used various gemstones and metals in his artistic practice for five decades, guided by an appreciation of nature and a universal interpretation of the spiritual world, through Zen Buddhism. His creations transcend the boundaries of craftsmanship and contemplation.

The exhibition is co-curated by the Shanghai Museum and Danish Royal Jewellery Curator, Nina Hald. More than 200 pieces will be on view in an unprecedented review of Chan’s oeuvre as an artist and innovator over five decades, juxtaposed with prestigious loans from the collections of the Shanghai Museum, the Palace Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The exhibition presents three themes: “Engraving & Embodying,” “Entangling & Enchanting,” and “Enlightening & Empowering.” Each theme is an entrance to higher levels of craftsmanship, creativity and consciousness.

The first theme traces Chan’s humble beginnings and how he began his life with sensory perceptions and an apprenticeship as a gemstone carver in 1973. The first piece, “Eye of Time,” invites viewers to experience the world through his creative vision. His masterpiece “Stilled Life” depicts a cicada, as the motif. It shows a cicada cradling an imperial jadeite, its back adorned with a lustrous lavender jadeite. The jadeite beads on the cicada’s body are meticulously inlaid using the artist’s “tenon and mortise jointing technique.” The delicate cicada wings are made possible by Wallace Chan’s patented jadeite cutting and polishing technology from 2002.

The Chinese word for “cicada” shares a homophone with the Chinese word for “Zen.” Two pigeon-blood rubies symbolize the “earliness of life,” indicating that worldly desires shall be filtered by the sediment of wisdom. The rare jadeite embraced by the cicada is not only a marvel nurtured by nature but also culture. Jade epitomizes the demeanor of a noble person, while the cicada’s embrace of it embodies the pursuit of the spiritual.

After Chan had spent a decade carving gems, he formed the ambition of capturing light itself, resulting in the seminal thought for his first major invention, the Wallace Cut (1987), an illusionary carving technique that transcends three-dimensional intaglio carving. Since then, innovation has been a major component of Chan’s creative universe.

Having mastered carving, Chan’s creativity began to unfold, which is defined by the second theme of the exhibition. In his 30s, he began adapting techniques, tools and knowledge from many fields to come up with solutions to challenges facing him in the process of realizing his creations. Time spent experimenting with gemstone carving; as well as the coloring, carving and sculpting of titanium; and the engineering of jewelry structures and parts has added depth to Chan’s works.

The whole range of Chan’s butterflies may be perceived as a series of variations on a theme. By reshaping the butterfly’s essence, he seeks to remind people of the grandeur and mystery of the world.

“Butterfly Nebula” is created from titanium, intricately carved with cloud patterns. Diamonds adorn the bodies’ surface, while certain parts feature carved amethyst, along with various free-cut pink sapphires, capturing the flow of light through craftsmanship, and creating illusions to reveal the intangible sound waves of the universe. The extending antennae not only expresses the beauty of physical and mental balance and evokes the fragrance of flowers permeating the surroundings but also symbolizes the resonance and empathy among all beings in the universe.

“Metamorphosis” aims to capture the wonderful colors of butterflies. Chan took a butterfly specimen and created the butterfly with the refractive nature of rock crystal, together with 16 pieces of emerald totaling 52.44 carats, diamonds, rubies, amethysts, citrines, blue topazes, rock crystals, mother-of-pearls, tourmalines, sapphires, yellow diamonds, 18k white gold and titanium.

Motifs for the third theme of the exhibition such as the dragon, phoenix, horse, and tiger reveal how Chan embraces and innovates the spirit of Chinese culture and people. As interpreted by Chan in his symbolic creations, they echo his spirituality and meditation, thus transcending the boundary between jewelry and art.

“Hera” is a peacock adorned with resplendent and magnificent feathers – a motif beloved by people around the world throughout history. In ancient Greek mythology, the “eyes” on the peacock’s feathers originated from Argus, who served the goddess Hera. “Return of the King” is created from mutton-fat white jade, diamonds, and titanium. It not only depicts the starry night patterns of Western modern painting but also embodies the jade carving craftsmanship of China’s Warring States period, blending ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, with vividness and legendary aura.