Biography
Chen Man exploded onto the Chinese fashion scene whilst it was still in its infancy. The photographer’s hyper-realised pop portraiture, shot for China’s Vision magazine, is often 3D-textured through Chen’s mastery with both a camera and computer. She is credited helping to the evolution of the China’s beauty aesthetic. Although thoroughly modern in execution and appearance, Man's imagery often references traditional Chinese culture, aiding China’s development of its own idiosyncratic aesthetic.
Man has shot covers for China’s Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, Hong Kong’s Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Muse, and i-D. Man’s photography for i-D’s "Whatever the Weather" issue, for which she shot 12 covers, was widely hailed as some of most creative, progressive and beautifully composed photography of 2012. Man has been commissioned for several cover shoots by i-D, including one featuring actress Fan Bingbing in 2012.
Man is known for her skill at digital post-production, and regularly exhibits her work around the world. She has contributed to exhibitions in Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, London and Hong Kong, as well as her native Beijing. Man studied photography at Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts. She has always displayed a penchant for creativity; at age two, the photographer picked up a pencil and drew a mouse.
Her commercial clients have included Adidas, Motorola and Gucci; the photographer has also collaborated with MAC cosmetics to create a line of pink and blue products, representing love and water. Man is married to Raphael Ming Cooper, co-founder of Society Skateboards; the couple has two children.