Beijing native Roy Wang’s big hands may have been an asset to him during his professional rugby career but as a light-painter collaborating with Jaeger-LeCoultre to explore the connection between horology and art, his method and movement needed adjusting.
Catherine Renier, outgoing CEO for Jaeger-LeCoultre (she takes on her role as CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels on September 1, 2024), explains that the Made of Makers programme focuses on artists who share the same values of creativity, expertise, and precision as the Maison. “Like our watchmakers, these artists have a deep respect for the past as their creative foundation. This year, we wanted to explore the world of urban artistry with a new collaboration, so we turned to photography, which has always had a precious place in the history of Jaeger-LeCoultre. Photography, like high watchmaking, reflects the perfect mix between incredible precision and the transmission of emotion. And at Jaeger-LeCoultre, we’ve always been very enthusiastic about protecting and helping this form of art flourish. In fact, in 1937, we launched the Compass, a very sophisticated camera made of 290 components that was small enough to fit in one’s pocket. So, we are delighted to announce our collaboration with Roy.”
The former athlete, who played in Hong Kong alongside former Stormers rugby star Peter Grant, was commissioned to create three light-painting photographs and a stopmotion video for the Made of Makers series. “I feel comfortable with a big dragon, but I must challenge [myself] to create new things, so small. I destroyed a lot of tools when making new ones to create the smaller images. I always complain and wonder why do I have such big hands,” Roy remembers, smiling. Given Roy’s affinity with precision, this became the theme of the commissions.
“We asked Roy to scale his work down to the tiny dimensions of watchmaking, requiring major technical adaptations like developing new miniaturised light tools and reducing his typically sweeping arm movements and whole-body motion to tiny movements of the hand and wrist, kind of like the watchmaker,” says Catherine. “And every gesture, of course, needed to be perfectly judged and very precisely controlled. The three hypnotic photographs, Wo, Yi, and Da, created for our Maison, celebrate the intricacies of the Duometre watch calibre, pay homage to a 19th-century Jaeger-LeCoultre pocket watch and pay tribute to our iconic Reverso.”
Roy’s journey to becoming a renowned light painter was not a direct one. His interest in photography was sparked during his rugby playing downtime when he found himself with nothing to do at night after training and matches. However, it was a black-and white photograph from the 1949 collaboration between Pablo Picasso and Life magazine photographer Gjon Mili that truly ignited his passion. This photograph, in which Picasso used a small flashlight to sketch in mid-air, captured by Mili using a slow shutter speed, inspired Roy to explore the art of light painting. A career-ending neck injury two years later prompted Roy’s return to Beijing and further immersion in this art form, which turned out to be incredibly therapeutic during his adjustment to life outside rugby. The darkness served as his canvas, providing solace and peace, and the light served as his brush, his only focus as he concentrated on realising the image in his imagination.
Unlike traditional photography and figurative art, in which the artist behind the camera tries to capture the effect of light falling on the subject, in light painting, the artist is in front of the camera, and light is the medium that creates the picture in the darkness. Roy’s work is often set against urban backgrounds, combining references from Chinese culture and mythology with pop culture iconography and elements of calligraphy. In 2023, he led a team in a successful attempt to break his previous Guinness World Record in 2021 for the most people light drawing simultaneously. Roy compares light drawing to working on a canvas, except only the camera can see. “All you need is a camera, light source, and your imagination,” he says.
For the stop-motion movie of the dragon moving through the Manufacture, he repeated the same image, keeping in mind the previous position in space with a slight change each time. “Precision is important as we paint the dragon. We need about 12 images to make one second of video, creating the illusion of motion and making the dragon come alive,” he says. The precision and dedication required in light painting are truly impressive, adding to the complexity and beauty of the art form. The Chinese Spring Festival (New Year) inspired the incorporation of the dragon to represent an element of Chinese tradition, which Roy also links to Jaeger-LeCoultre’s prowess in the industry. “I really appreciate this time. Jaeger-LeCoultre challenged me to a new world and after visiting the Manufacture I can feel the watchmaker and see the long history of the brand. This is high-end, you know; it’s the top. We wrote in the visitor’s notebook that we hope Jaeger-LeCoultre is the dragon head in the industry. Dragon head means the top.”
Curious about Catherine’s reaction to the artworks, I asked how she felt about them. “I was sharing with Roy again earlier how much the stop-motion video means to me. I think it’s really a one-of-a-kind art piece where, you know, China and the dragon meets the Vallée de Joux and the Manufacture – something that we could not imagine. I love this sequence where the dragon moves through that corridor. It’s really a true symbol of our Manufacture and how over 190-plus years, it keeps reinventing itself, inspired by artists. So, I find this very beautiful, but also very inspiring and touching.”
