Leading Contemporary jewellery artist Peter Chang is known for using plastic almost exclusively as his material and creating astounding objects. Chang's use of colour in his work shows a critical process of thinking. His inspiration of his work are from his environment, stories of the past and past objects and nature. Chang's pieces are unique and are mysterious.
Parts of Chang's inspiration for creating his jewellery pieces are from his environment. In the mid 1980s he became interested in acrylic glass. Living in Liverpool he obtained acrylic from the local sign writer in Berry street. Chang collected offcuts and parts of old signs taken from shops in Liverpool's Chinatown. The colours red and yellow were commonly used in his work and reference to the colours of China. e.g Most of his work show the colours red and yellow and some don't. The way that Chang uses his environment as an inspiration is to show that you can take the ordinary and turn it into something else.Another thing that inspired Chang was his interest in the stories of the past and past objects. His influence came from 1950 jukeboxes, Mythology and Japanese armour, this is then reflected in his sculpture. The pattern that featured are black bold lines and pink colours that could be taken straight from a Japanese shield. In one of his exhibitions that includes a brilliant piece of work, such as a sculpture of multicoloured table that took nine months to make. This inspiration came from the past stories of Japanese armour. Also the way he uses the jukebox as an idea, he used lines, colour and shape to bring through into his work. Even being inspired by Mythology, his work contains shapes that are strongly represented throughout his work. The idea that he uses past objects and past stories gives a good sense of giving something a new twist.
Chang's other influences are from nature. The way he uses colour's that reference nature and its natural form. Creatures of the sea have been a subject matter in Chang's pieces. The unworldly creatures are then transformed as a brooch where the wearer can proudly exhibit his creation.
Blue and red earrings are pieced together by different squares; it was an interesting pair because it looked like the outside of an animal shell. Apart from the earrings the bracelets that he made were very detail. The Interesting thing about the piece is that there so many different things blended together e.g influenced by the land, sky and the sea and green, blue and beige colour giving them a neutral tone.
Some of his work doesn't look like your typical jewellery, because of his Influences. Being influenced by many different things like good, evil, Frankenstein, sci-fi, and also alien forms. Chang was able to produce unique sculptures and work with colour really well. The shapes that he used were out of this world and unexpected. Pattens were also a big part of his idea helping to shape his the forms of his jewellery. The thing about his work is that " weird is beautiful."
Chang considers every detail of the design carefully and takes incredible care in the construction of each piece. Even the smallest pieces may take days to make. So in conclusion of my essay, Peter Chang's work is inspiring and beautiful. His reference from around his environment, past stories, nature and the unexpected.
