Ian Wallace is a Vancouver-based photo conceptualist, exploring and juxtaposing the boundaries of monochrome painting and photography while referencing aesthetic and social issues via the subjects of the studio, the museum and the street—he is also a champion of contemporary art. He was an early proponent of incorporating the art of the recent past, including film, photography and contemporary painting, into the art history curriculum.

Considered by many to be the progenitor of the Vancouver School of photo-conceptualism, whose practitioners include his former students Stan Douglas, Rodney Graham and Jeff Wall. Wallace has influenced a generation of artists through his teachings at the University of British Columbia and Emily Carr University.

He was awarded the Audain Prize for the Visual Arts in 2022, one of the top awards for Canadian contemporary artists.