For gemstone carver and sculptor Wallace Chan, 'Vessels of Other Worlds' hold a lifetime journey

Home > Culture > Arts & Design

For gemstone carver and sculptor Wallace Chan, 'Vessels of Other Worlds' hold a lifetime journey

Published: 19 Nov. 2025, 07:00 Updated: 19 Nov. 2025, 12:14

LEE JIAN
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Wallace Chan sits at his workshop in Zhuhai, China. [WALLACE CHAN]

[Interview]

ZHUHAI, China — During a trip to Venice last year, gemstone carver and sculptor Wallace Chan found himself drawn to a set of simple votive oil vessels. The austere silhouettes of the containers holding the sacred oils used in Catholic rites struck him with surprising force.

"What I saw in those vessels was a sense of divinity, and they opened a spiritual door for me,” he told the Korea JoongAng Daily on Saturday. A year later, that moment has been recreated in Shanghai as an ornate titanium installation at the city’s landmark institution, the Long Museum.

The 7-meter (23 feet) tower is assembled from more than 5,500 titanium pieces, 1,500 aluminum parts and nearly 20,000 steel screws. Threaded with 725 gears and 922 tiny human figures, it unfolds like a miniature cosmos — containing questions about destiny, existence and time — with mirrored plates that catch and scatter light across its surface.

Titled "Birth," the installation serves as a preview of Chan’s dual-city exhibition series in Venice and Shanghai in 2026, titled “Vessels of Other Worlds,” which will also mark the artist’s 70th birthday.

"Birth" is installed at the Long Museum in Shanghai, China. [WALLACE CHAN]

"These vessels are containers of memory, spirit and transformation; sculpted and carved in the material closest to eternity, titanium. Like water, they hold what cannot be held — moments, emotions, the passage of time," he said, "By placing them in two distinct spaces, I hope to create a dialogue between distant places and between our inner and outer worlds, inviting viewers to contemplate the cycle of birth, growth and death, and to imagine that beyond these passages lie other worlds yet to be discovered.”

Chan described the process of imagining "Vessels of Other Worlds" as one that condenses his entire life's practice. “I drew on everything I have learned over decades. In that sense, the year was also a lifelong investment.”

The artist is best known for the Venice exhibitions “Titans” (2021) and “Totem” (2022) at Fondaco Marcello, and “Transcendence” (2024) at the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà, a collaboration with music producer Brian Eno that drew more than 30,000 visitors, according to Chan. “Vessels of Other Worlds,” curated by James Putnam, signals a new chapter in his practice.

“With this series, I am exploring the origin of life — a question that has guided my practice for many years,” Chan said. “It always returns to the same inquiry: Who am I, and why was I born?”

Oils and modules of Wallace Chan's upcoming exhibition "Vessels of Other Worlds" are at the artist's workshop in Zhuhai [LEE JIAN]

Chan is a Hong Kong—based artist who began carving gemstones at 16, before gaining international recognition for his pioneering carving and setting techniques. Largely self-taught, he shifted to monumental sculpture over the past decade, working primarily with titanium — a metal prized for its strength and lightness yet notoriously resistant to cutting or welding.

Through the material, Chan explores the intersection of permanence and impermanence, as well as shifting definitions of beauty. Many of his Venice titanium works featured dissolving or fragmented faces, suggesting beauty in motion rather than stasis. In “Vessels of Other Worlds,” mirrors and natural light deepen this sense of flux.

“As a contemporary artist, I wanted a material that reflects our era — strong, resilient and closely tied to the idea of eternity,” he said, explaining his affinity for titanium. “But life itself is transient. Birth cannot be remembered, and death cannot be rehearsed. We exist on a thin line between the two.”

“My sculptures may endure for generations, but the experience of them — the lighting, the moment, the viewer’s presence — is always changing.”

In his view, distortion, fragmentation and the rise and fall of form are expressions of beauty. “Permanence exists only in the physical body of the sculpture. Impermanence is everything else. The two naturally coexist, and that is the most truthful state of living.”

A close-up shot of Wallace Chan's "Birth" installed at the Long Museum in Shanghai. [WALLACE CHAN]

The first chapter of “Vessels of Other Worlds” opens on May 8 at the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà during the 61st Venice Biennale. A second presentation opens at the Long Museum on July 18.

In Venice, Chan is set to showcase three titanium sculptures. Installed on the chapel’s altar with a three-channel video work, they form a contemporary triptych that connects the small Venetian chapel to the monumental versions in Shanghai. Each reflects a stage of life — birth, growth and death. Suspended titanium pieces shaped like falling oil droplets will surround the central works, adding a sense of fluid motion to the space.

At the Long Museum, visitors will see the same three vessels at a larger scale — 7, 8 and 10 meters high, per Chan's team. The central sculpture will include a doorway, allowing viewers to step inside a mirrored, kaleidoscopic interior that nods to Chan’s celebrated gemstone-carving technique, the Wallace Cut. Additional works from his earlier Venice exhibitions, including “Transcendence,” “Titans” and “Totem,” will also be on view.

The sculptures are made entirely by hand, sans digital fabrication or AI. “I want to ask certain questions: Is there a limit to human creativity? Where is the edge of what we are capable of making?” said Chan.

“But this project is not about finding an answer,” he added. “It is about building bridges — to the unknown, to other worlds and to what we cannot yet name. For me, creation is a state of continuous becoming. There is never an ending. Only new beginnings.”

BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]