Chen Man's solo exhibition "Dragon, Rain, Field" is currently being held at Fosun Art Center in Shanghai.
As one of the most high-profile artists in the field of international visual arts, Chen Man is one of the very few Chinese photographers who can enter the collections of top international art museums, and her works are in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in the United Kingdom and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. On February 21, Chen Man appeared at Fosun Art Center to tell the story behind her solo exhibition.
The exhibition presents the theme of "Dragon and Lion" in the form of a large-scale installation, hoping that the public can share the universal beauty of oriental history and aesthetics up close, and understand the ability to create painting and installation art that is not yet known in addition to Chen Man's classic photographic works, as well as the relationship between various artistic means.
The installation "Paradise".A piece of "memory**" appears repeatedly in solo exhibitions, and the first work in the solo exhibition is the installation "Paradise" created with ice, stone and metal. The superimposed "memory**" has symbolic meaning, just like a hidden memory of life, and the small stone in ** is also like a small part of the human brain that is used.
The installation work "One Acre of Clouds".Another installation work, "One Acre of Clouds", is embedded in a square acre of wheat field, embedded with a children's bed, floating clouds, soft beds and surrounding wheat fields, allowing people to relax and immerse themselves in this enclosed space and return to the state of childhood. This piece resembles a psychological room.
As a photographer, Chen Man's most eye-catching thing is the cover stars of various magazines she shoots, and behind each cover star, there are stories to share.
Before filming the young star Wang Hedi, the editor provided a lot of shooting locations, and finally Chen Man chose a tea field, which was far away and had to drive up the mountain.
Chen Man said that he has a complex about tea. Her grandmother was the first to open a store in a hutong in Dashilar, Beijing, to sell a large bowl of tea, and in her memory, the blue-edged porcelain bowl was soaked in jasmine tea, fragrant, and covered with a glass slice. The porters in Beijing (who pedal three wheels) were thirsty, and they came to drink a bowl of sweating, especially to quench their thirst.
Wang Hedi taking a nap in the tea fieldOn the way to Cha Tin, the driver was a single mother who had to drive a night train to earn extra money in order to feed her children – a quarter of the fare was higher than during the day, but the work was intensive. During the official shooting, Chen Man thought that the female driver would probably need to take a nap after driving back, so he had an idea, asked the almighty producer to find a pillow, and temporarily took a picture of Wang Hedi sleeping in the tea field, which turned out to be the most popular one in the whole group.
Wang YiboWang Yibo's portrait was taken for Chanel. Chen Man once saw Wang Yibo playing skateboarding all the time between work, so she thought of a depressed friend of hers, depression is to live in fear of the future and worry about the past, and skateboarders must always focus on the present in order to prevent falling, and they will forget the past, so skateboarding has become a first-class sport. So, Chen Man created this portrait of Wang Yibo carrying two skateboards.
Victoria BeckhamWhen filming Victoria Beckham, this hot girl had just given birth to her daughter, foreigners do not have confinement, and soon after she gave birth, she put the child in a basket, carried the basket, and wore 15 cm high heels, and flew from London to New York to shoot. Chen Man said that the special feeling of strength of the hot girl is suitable for her to add a Chinese dragon headdress.
Zhang ZiyiWhen filming Zhang Ziyi, Chen Man asked Zhang Ziyi, who was dressed in red, to stand on the head of a silver dragon. Chen Man said that the Forbidden City did not have a fire protection system before, and the large tank containing water was used to extinguish the fire, and she was taken by adults to see the large tank goldfish exhibition when she was a child.
Because of his fame, Chen Man has now become a part of Beijing's tourism.
Once American basketball star LeBron James came to Beijing, visited the Great Wall, ate roast duck, and the third item was to shoot Chen Man's **. A day in advance, a bus drove first, and 20 black bodyguards rolled on the ground of Chen Man's studio for a day, and they wanted to make sure that the big star would not slip and fall when filming the next day.
The big star is nicknamed "The Lion King", Chen Man thought of the stone lion at the entrance of the Forbidden City, and photographed the ** of the "Lion King" James smiling, plus the post-production, forming a picture of two "lions" smiling and fighting balls.
"The Lion King" James** Superstar Rihanna asked Chen Man to shoot, this is the second time the two have cooperated. When communicating in advance, Chen Man asked Rihanna to show her figure in dress. Rihanna said that she has been blessed in the past two years. Chen Man studied Chinese painting in school, and she thought of a picture of a lady playing a poodle in the famous painting "Hairpin Lady", so she made Rihanna such a set of clothes.
RihannaChen Man said that when shooting, what I pursue is not style, but accuracy. As a portrait photographer, I have found that in the moment of imaging, what is more important is the story and experience behind it. The best photography shows things that are invisible to the naked eye, such as light, mood, relationships, eyes, atmosphere, and so on.
Chen Man's photographic work "Memory**".The most storytelling part of the solo exhibition is a group of "memory**" portrait photography, each with a recording of the star narrating under each portrait. On the wall opposite the portrait is a "memory**" taken by Chen Man according to the color chosen by the star
Chen Man said that memories are like a piece of **, which will melt, disappear, be swallowed by AI, and be tampered with, so this kind of sharing is very precious.
The actor shared his psychological fear of not daring to take the dark elevator. She revealed that she was afraid of being beaten since she could remember, hiding in a small cabinet, and she was afraid of taking a dark elevator when she grew up.
Emi Wada (left).Emi Wada won the Oscar for Best Costume, and when she went to shoot, she was in her 80s. There are a lot of black cloths hanging in her studio, and she relies on touch to distinguish the different textures of the cloth. Chen Man paid special attention to Emi Wada's hand, and out of feminine sensitivity, Chen Man asked Emi Wada if she was smoking? Unexpectedly, Emi Wada immediately ran to a corner of the room like a child, took out a box of cigarettes, and took out one of them, looking very relaxed and enjoyable. As a result, the cigarette was still taken away by the staff. Emi Wada said that she had just undergone surgery, and the doctor did not let her smoke, so she quietly hid her cigarette because she liked to smoke very much.
Stan LeeWhen filming Stan Lee, the "father of Marvel", Chen Man found that he lived in the most dilapidated building in Hollywood and took the most dilapidated elevator. The office is very small, and there are many celebrity photos on the wall, but the most are the life photos of him and his wife, which record the beautiful moments of their lives.
At that time, it was the busiest stage of Chen Man's work, sometimes she had to fly to 3 countries a day, shoot 4 covers, Chen Man, who was very conflicted about how to balance life and career, got a great touch from the ** on the wall of Stan Lee's office.
The last work of Chen Man's solo exhibition is a trolley case with labels on it. Chen Man said that over the years, countless people have labeled my photographic art, and this trolley case symbolizes the process of my photography career.
Chen Man's photography started from Chen Yifei, and it started with a failure. At that time, Chen Yifei was working on a magazine "Youth Vision", and Chen Man was still in his third year of college. When shooting, the camera she borrowed from her Hong Kong classmates was still filmed on film, but the film could not be developed after shooting, so she had to reshoot it.
At that time, Chen Man exhausted all her photography skills, and the shooting was a bit unlike, which could not be defined, which brought people a "sense of insecurity", and was criticized for this.
Chen Man is sharing the story behind his workAt that time, it happened that image designer Li Dongtian came to ** and invited Chen Man to shoot for a beauty magazine for him. In order to be angry, Chen Man didn't use any post-production technology, and relied on a lamp when shooting, so she got the nickname "Master of One Light".
Later, Chen Man took covers for celebrities, and after accumulating to a certain extent, her talent was gradually recognized until today. So at the end of the exhibition, she wrote the motto "Whatever there is a photograph, it is a photograph".