In the monumental installation Dark Light, Subterranean Circuit (2023), two pallets form a pair of architectural fittings. Whereas the arched wall mount inlaid with rippled amber resin and lustrous gold-sheen...
In the monumental installation Dark Light, Subterranean Circuit (2023), two pallets form a pair of architectural fittings. Whereas the arched wall mount inlaid with rippled amber resin and lustrous gold-sheen obsidian carved by Teotihuacan craftsmen evokes the luminosity of stained-glass, as with many reworked pallets in Chan's oeuvre, the cratered floor piece thoroughly sculpted with epoxy clay resembles fossil stone. Showing through its lithic crater and crevices are copper chrome mirror inlays, yellow zinc wheels, and 3D-printed bronze wildflowers that appear like precious ore in an open-pit mine. By masking the pallet's plasticity with epoxy clay and inlaying various minerals and metals, Chan transforms mass-produced equipment into temporally ambiguous artefacts that intrigue us to rethink the (after)life of materials-if ancient obsidian was once mined for making ceremonial blades and wholesaled today as feng shui crystal, yesterday's detritus plastic may yet become tomorrow's treasure according to the whims of human desire. - Joyce Hei-ting Wong