COLLABORATION
COLLISION OF LIGHT AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Introducing Roy Wang, a Chinese street light-painter, who brings his creative talent to Jaeger-LeCoultre's Made of Makers programme with the creation of one stop motion video and three experimental photographs embodying the precision of fine watchmaking expressed through light.
CREATION
SCALING DOWN LIGHT-PAINTING ART
The four light-painting artworks created by Roy Wang presented great challenges. Asked to scale his work down to the tiny dimensions of watchmaking, required major technical adaptation like developing completely new, miniaturised light-tools – most of which are as small as a movement component. Rather than the sweeping arm movements and whole-body motion that he normally uses, the artist had to master tiny movements of the hand and wrist – more akin to those of a watchmaker – with every gesture perfectly judged and precisely controlled.
HYPTONIC LIGHT-PAINTING ARTWORKS
For the three light-painting photographs and stop-motion video, Roy Wang has combined elements drawn from Chinese tradition with his experience of visiting the Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture in the Vallée de Joux and discovering watchmaking in depth – particularly the different aspects of precision that he observed. In his signature style, he plays with shape, colour and dynamic lines to create visually captivating, one-of-a-kind works.
Part of the magic of light-painting is that the light effects vanish as soon as they are created, yet they live forever through the photographs.
CRAFTING LIGHT-PAINTING
In essence, light-painting is the art of ‘drawing’ images with a moving light, and capturing the process on camera with a single, long exposure – usually a minute or more. The stop motion animation is a technique in which the subject is manipulated between photographs shot at dozens of frames per second, to give the appearance of movement once the frames are spliced together.
MAKERS
ROY WANG: THE STREET LIGHT-PAINTER
Born in Beijing, where he is based today, light-painting artist Roy Wang (Wang Sibo) is rapidly achieving international recognition. After graduating from university in 2009 he became a professional rugby player in Japan, where his affinity for photography blossomed. A chance encounter with a light drawing photograph from the 1949 collaboration between Picasso and photographer Gjon Mili ignited his passion for this fascinating art form.
Drawing in the night air without visual guidance, Roy Wang relies on spatial awareness, muscle memory and imagination, using darkness as his canvas and light as his paintbrush to create visually arresting, one-of-a-kind images that he captures on camera. Through his work, which is infused with elements of Chinese culture combined with pop culture iconography and calligraphy, Roy Wang aspires to offer others a glimpse into the world as he sees it. Influenced by artists such as LichtFaktor, Frodo DKL and Darren Pearson, he has developed a distinctive style based on freehand light drawing on a large scale. In 2023 he broke his own Guinness World Record for the most people light drawing simultaneously to create a huge image.
PROGRAMME
MADE OF MAKERS: REIMAGINING CREATIVE EXPRESSION
Made of Makers encapsulates a series of collaborations with artists and with artisans from various disciplines outside watchmaking, building a community of creators with similar values and visions of creativity, and provoking new conversations.
With intense respect for the person in the process – the creativity of the mind and the skill of the hand – the programme focuses on creative souls who share the Maison’s values and whose work explores new forms of expression.
What's next
The story continues
