Ren Hang

Ren Hang, a Beijing photographer who took his life in 2017, was controversial in his homeland but popular worldwide for his nude, often extreme images of friends, models, and fans. He denied his intentions were sexual and was a pioneer of gender inclusiveness. His photographs have been the subject of over 20 solo and 70 group shows in his brief six-year career and have been collected in over 20 monographs. His only international collection, published by TASCHEN, covers his entire career and features well-loved favorites and many never-before-seen photos of men, women, Beijing, and erections.

Format: Hardback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 24 February 2021
Publisher: Taschen GmbH

Ren Hang, a 29-year-old Beijing photographer who took his life on February 23, 2017, was an unlikely rebel. Despite his slight build, shyness, and tendency towards depression, he was at the forefront of the Chinese artists' battle for creative freedom. Like his champion Ai Weiwei, Ren was controversial in his homeland and wildly popular in the rest of the world. He said, "I don't really view my work as taboo, because I don't think so much in cultural context or political context. I don't intentionally push boundaries, I just do what I do."

Why? Because his models, friends, and, in his last years, fans are naked, often outdoors, high in the trees or on the terrifyingly vertiginous rooftops of Beijing, stacked like building blocks, heads wrapped in octopi, body cavities sprouting phone cords and flowers, whatever entered his mind at the moment. He denied his intentions were sexual, and there is a clean detachment about even his most extreme images: the urine, the insertions, the many, many erections. In a 2013 interview, VICE magazine asked, "There are a lot of dicks ... do you just like dicks?" Ren responded, "It's not just dicks I'm interested in, I like to portray every organ in a fresh, vivid, and emotional way." True though that may be, the penises Ren photographed were not just fresh and vivid, but unusually large, making one wonder just where he met his friends.

In the same piece, Hang also stated, "Gender isn't important when I'm taking pictures, it only matters to me when I'm having sex," making him a pioneer of gender inclusiveness. Young fans still eagerly flock to his website and Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr accounts. His photographs, all produced on film, have been the subject of over 20 solo and 70 group shows in his brief six-year career, in cities as disparate as Tokyo, Athens, and New York.

Despite his controversial nature, Ren Hang's work is undeniably powerful and thought-provoking. His images challenge our perceptions of the human body and sexuality, and his use of film adds a layer of nostalgia and authenticity to his work. His death was a tragedy, and his legacy continues to inspire and influence artists around the world.

In conclusion, Ren Hang was an unlikely rebel who fought for creative freedom in China. His controversial and popular work challenged our perceptions of the human body and sexuality, and his use of film added a layer of nostalgia and authenticity to his work. His death was a tragedy, but his legacy continues to inspire and influence artists around the world.

Weight: 1980g
Dimension: 233 x 155 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783836562072