Wallace Chan: Half a Century

Wallace Chan: Half a Century
3rd July, 2024 to 7th October, 2024
Shanghai Museum East
1952 Shiji Da Dao,
near Dingxiang Lu
Pudong District
世纪大道1952号,
近丁香路

From 3 July to 7 October, Shanghai Museum’s “Drawing Inspiration from the Past: Masters of Modern and Contemporary Art” Exhibition Series’ inaugural exhibition – Wallace Chan: Half a Century, will be on view at the Bright Dairy & Food Exhibition Gallery 1 of Shanghai Museum East. The inaugural exhibition of the series immerses us in the world of Wallace Chan, a prominent jewellery artist of the 21st century. This exhibition is also the artist’s largest exhibition in the world to date.

Chinese artist and innovator Wallace Chan is the first living contemporary artist to exhibit at Shanghai Museum East. Renowned as the “formidable Chinese” among European jewellers, he has utilised various gemstones and metals in his artistic practice for five decades, guided by a profound appreciation for nature. Drawing poetic inspiration from chan (“cicadas”) and incorporating chan (“Zen Buddhism”) into his poetic creations, Chan transcends the boundaries of craftsmanship and contemplation.

Wallace Chan: Half a Century is co-curated by Shanghai Museum and Danish Royal Jewellery Curator Nina Hald. Over 200 pieces of the artist’s masterpieces will be on view at Shanghai Museum East. It is an unprecedented review of Chan’s oeuvre as an artist and innovator over five decades of dedicated work, 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.

Wallace Chan: Half a Century opens on the 3rd of July, 2024 until the 7th of October, 2024 at Shanghai Museum East

©2024 Wallace Chan