Chen Man
dal 9/12/2014 al 23/1/2015
Segnalato da
9/12/2014
Chen Man
L.A. Louver Gallery, Venice
'East-West'. Iconic photographs and a suite of her traditional Chinese paintings, all created over the past 10 years. Minimal and poetic, these paintings derive from her own devotion to Taoist philosophy.
Venice, CA – For its second international presentation of Rogue Wave Projects, L.A. Louver is pleased to announce an exhibition
of works by the Chinese artist Chen Man. In her first exhibition at L.A. Louver, Chen Man will present iconic photographs and
a suite of her traditional Chinese paintings, all created over the past 10 years.
Pushing the boundaries of photography, Chen Man has rapidly evolved into a leading cultural voice of China’s post-’80s generation.
At only 34 years of age, she is widely recognized as one of Asia’s preeminent photographers, developing a singular style of imagery
that is metaphoric of contemporary Chinese culture
In the early 2000s, Chen Man rose to prominence as a fashion photographer, distinguished by her sensational and stylized use of
post-production techniques and hands-on manipulation. Treating the initial untouched photographic image as a blank canvas,
she employs digital tools in a painterly fashion to build a narrative or concept. This process of layering strokes, textures and
imagery provides the artist full creative freedom to construct a fantastical world entirely her own. Drawing from an immense and
prolific visual vocabulary, Chen Man imposes traditional Chinese iconography onto modern subjects, creating compositions that
are both contradictory and harmonious, in a celebration of the past and the present.
In the Vision series (2003), Chen Man layers Chinese elements onto the faces of stunning Asian models. Vision: Year of the
Monkey alludes to the monkey mask, a reference to the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West. The New China series
(2006) places elegant women, clothed in fashionable red garments, against symbolic Chinese settings – ranging from an industrial
complex to Tiananmen Square. Five Elements (2011) juxtaposes
models transformed into divine interpretations of fire, water, metal
and wood, alongside images of real-life Chinese women who work
as fishmongers or metalsmiths. “I mix tradition with modernity and
make it kitsch,” explains Chen Man. “In the past, Chinese artists
have always looked abroad for inspiration as opposed to looking
domestically. I’m one of the first people to actually look to China
for inspiration.”
In counterpoint to these photographs are a series of traditional
Chinese paintings and calligraphic works created by Chen Man
from 2012-2013. Minimal and poetic, these paintings derive from
the artist’s earliest art training in classical forms, and her own
devotion to Taoist philosophy. This is the first time these paintings
will be exhibited in the United States.
Born in 1980 in a rural region of Inner Mongolia, Chen Man
grew up in Beijing among the one-child generation in the wake of
Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. She attended the prestigious Waiting with Respect, 2013
Chinese ink on paper
Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing where she studied painting, 14 1/4 x 15 3/4 in. (36 x 40 cm)
architecture, graphic design and set design before pursuing
photography and post-production.
Press Contact: Christina Carlos, christina@lalouver.com
Opening: Wednesday, 10 December, 7–9 pm
L.A. Louver
45 North Venice Boulevard
Mon - Fri 10am to 6pm, Thu 10am to 8pm