Wallace Chan’s 70th birthday marks a monumental Venice Biennale debut
High jewellery made his name, but fine art is what stokes Wallace Chan’s passion today. The designer-cum-sculptor talks about expanding his practice, the story behind his pieces and proving his critics wrong at 70
Famed for crafting a US$200 million, 11,551-diamond necklace for Hong Kong jewellery giant Chow Tai Fook in 2015, Wallace Chan has, for decades, been synonymous with jewellery-making. He invented the Wallace Cut, a three-dimensional carving technique, in 1987, and Wallace Chan Porcelain, notable for being five times stronger than steel, in 2018. After an illustrious career working with gemstones, the septuagenarian artist is now walking down a different path.
Last month, in the historic chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà in Venice, Italy, Chan unveiled his fourth exhibition, timed to coincide with the prestigious Venice Biennale. His showcase, “Vessels of Other Worlds”, carries particular weight: it marks his 70th birthday.
For those who know Chan only for his jewellery, the switch in scale might come as a surprise – from the intimate and delicate structures of his gem-encrusted creations to something altogether more monumental.
Mounting a major exhibition against the notoriously expensive backdrop of a leading international art event demands commitment – the kind that cannot be faked or bought. It requires vision, stamina and an almost unreasonable belief in what you are doing. Chan, with half a century of creating behind him, still bursts at the seams with all three qualities.
When did you realise you wanted to go more deeply into sculpture and fine art?
When I was young, carving was still understood as being part of the fine-art world. But the turning point came in 1999. I had just returned from six months as a monk (Chan had immersed himself in Zen Buddhism as a way to grieve the passing of his mentor and collector), and in that time, I had lost almost everything – my network, my resources, my footing in the industry. And yet, the urge to create only grew stronger. I remember hauling a large block of concrete up to a rooftop just so I could make a sculpture. From there, my practice slowly expanded: stainless steel, bronze, titanium and beyond.