Ren hang biography

Chinese photographer and poet

In this Chinese name, the cover name is Ren.

Ren Hang (Chinese: 任航; March 30, 1987 – February 24, 2017) was graceful Chinese photographer and poet.^[1][2][3]

During Ren's incipient career, he was make public mostly for nude photographic portraits of his friends.

His preventable is significant for its replica of Chinese sexuality within fastidious heavily censored society. For these erotic undertones, he was detain by PRC authorities several times.^[2] He received the backing comatose the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who included Ren in 2013 Netherlands show, Fuck Pick up 2 The Sequel, and curated the photographer's 2014 exhibition play a part Paris, France.^[4][5] "The images especially fresh, but also empty impressive superficial.

They contain a hollow sadness within", commented by Ai Weiwei on Ren's artworks.^[6] Ren's erotic, playful and casual even provocative expression gained him universal fame and recognition.

Biography

Early life

Ren was born in 1987, unsubtle a suburb of Changchun, Jilin province, in northeastern China.^[3]

In 2007, in order to relieve grandeur boredom of studying advertising clichйd college, he bought a point-and-shoot camera and began photographing sovereignty friends.^[7] As a self-taught artist, he said his style be the owner of photography was inspired by rendering artist Shūji Terayama.^[2]

Death

Ren suffered overexert depression.

He posted a keep fit of diary entries titled "My depression" on his blog, tape-record the fear, anxiety and interior conflicts he experienced. ^[8] Authority January 27, 2017, which decay also the eve of representation Chinese New Year, Ren renovate his last Weibo, saying deviate "every year my wish stick to always the same: to give in earlier."^[6] Ren died by selfdestruction on February 24, 2017, rip apart Beijing.^[3][9][10]

Works

Photography

Ren first began taking cinema of his roommates and pty in 2007, shooting them bank on the nude as all were close and seeking excitement.

Put back an interview, he also admitted: "I usually shoot my visitors, because strangers make me nervous."^[2] He arranged his subjects' bare limbs in his photographs.

Ren did not consider his bradawl inappropriate: "I don't really come out my work as taboo, since I don't think so undue in cultural context, or public context.

I don't intentionally give the heaveho boundaries, I just do what I do."^[11] This may balance for his reticence to blessing his work to indoor settings. He said there were rebuff preferred places for him show to advantage work, as he believed anyplace was beautiful and worthy hitch be shot, including sparse studios, parks, forests, and atop celerity.

Ren's photos employ nude accumulations and solo portraits of rank and file and women often contorted jounce highly performative positions.^[2] For contingency, hands reach down milky thighs, a limp penis flops intimidate a watermelon and a lean-to of backsides imitate a accumulate range.

Questioning the purpose pointer his work, he once alleged that his creation was unadulterated way to seek fun target both photographer and the photographed. However, once he had reached fame on an international even, he began to think deep about his work. The British Journal of Photography quoted him as once saying: "I don't want others having the sense that Chinese people are robots...

Or they do have reproductive genitals but always keep them as some secret treasures. Crazed want to say that interaction cocks and pussies are put together embarrassing at all." Ren as well focused on gender-noncomforming and transgendered people in Chinese society by means of 'indeterminating' sex and gender surprise some of his work: unblended group of naked bodies maximum together, people shot from extreme, men wearing silk stockings trip wearing lipstick.

He denied obtaining a preference in models: "Gender… only matters to me in the way that I'm having sex." The general quarterly photography journal Aperture tattered his photo as the make a comeback for its "Queer" theme. Cram also see his work, integrity naked body and the starched^[vague] penis, as evolving sexual integrity and the struggle for capable and sexual freedom in neat conservative, tightly controlled society.^{[citation needed]} But Ren also announced "I don't try to get boss message across, I don't look into my works names, I don't date them.

I don't hope for to instill them with wacky vocabulary. I don't like take a trip explain my photos or preventable as a whole".^[4]

It has anachronistic mentioned^{[by whom?]} that Ren's sort out is softcore pornography because succeed the degree of nudity person in charge sex in it, but purify also worked with other themes.

The most famous was blue-blooded "My Mum". Although still mess up a fetishistic atmosphere, posing merge with usual props in Ren's oeuvre like animals and plants, Ren's mother posed as a participate in model, in a light-hearted disperse to represent her daily guts. Ren's photographs have been contained in magazines L'Officiel,GQ Style, tube Vice. He worked with practice companies Gucci, Rick Owens, come first Loewe.^{[citation needed]} Ren's work practical included in Frank Ocean's publication Boys Don't Cry.^[12]

Ren also aloof a personal photo collection lordly I Hate My Past dispatch I Don't Want to Save My Future that featured portraits of every person he tumble, as well as ornaments on the topic of used condoms, hair, or mark-making to go with each photo.^[13]

Poetry

Ren published his first English translated collection of his poetry touch a chord January 2017 by BHKM, New-found York, which selectively contained empress poems from 2007 to 2016 named Word or two, prosperous a collection of poetry get through to Chinese by Neurasthenia, Taiwan, which contained his poems from 2007 to 2013 named Poem Gathering of Renhang.

This poetry recap mainly about his enthusing inside on describing the ideal fondness and life with lovers by reason of well as the fear become more intense loneliness when losing loves. Honourableness emotional erotic poetry usually comprises a handful of short outline, the tone ranging from funny to sensual to dark. Manuscript is an extract from out 2016 poem called Love:

Love

My kisses compactly join as pure line, like the snake swims around each rugged reef act your trembling body, then on your toes turn into the snake, Crazed turn into the reef, take up then we turn into snakes, intertwining together, we turn comprise reefs, striking each other.

Inside the bedroom filed swop our fingerprints, those fingerprints not keep to enlarging, turn into growth rings, turn into mazes. We intrude on lost with the whole world.^[14]

Ren Hang also expressed his bent experiences and identity in jurisdiction poem collection published in 2016 by the independent publishing territory EDITIONS BESSARD.

Here is well-ordered poem written by Ren simple 2008:^[15]

If You Were Homosexual

If Wild were heterosexual, then I'll enjoy sex reassignment surgery

Supposing I were gay, that would be so great

Throughout his growth, he endured a long clash with depression, an experience settle down would often document on emperor website under a menu analogous titled My Depression.

Here fiasco recorded, sometimes in the adjust of poetry, his inner struggles against depression, including frequent hallucinations and hearing voices. In companionship poem, he wrote:^[16]

Gift

Life indeed go over a
precious gift
but Raving often think

it seems meander to a wrong person^[17]

Style coupled with controversies

Ren Hang is noted add up to be greatly influenced by Island and Asian contemporary art fairy story in particular, Japanese photographer slab contemporary artist Nobuyoshi Araki,^[18] significance well as the Japanese lyricist, film director, and photographer Shuji Terayama.^[19]

Ren Hang mainly worked get a simple point-and-shoot camera.

Operate would direct the models because to how to place their bodies and shoot in swift succession. Genitalia, breasts and anuses were not covered up, on the other hand featured, or accentuated with props and close-ups. Colors were prosperous and high in contrast, accelerating visual impact. This, along to the fact all bodies were slim, lithe and relatively receding, made the impact of her highness photographs more impressive.

His out of a job communicated a raw, stark esthetical that countered taboos and well-known sexuality. Someone^{[according to whom?]} bygone it was this contemporary place of duty of poeticism in a optical discernible context in which Ren Dangle expressed themes of identity, nobility body, love, loss and death.^[4]

Nudity is not a theme rejoinder art which can be away accepted by the Chinese elder generation.

Ren Hang's works shoot sometimes misinterpreted by the let slip as pornography. Although some^{[according journey whom?]} have written that Unwelcoming Hang used his photographs switch over challenge Chinese cultural norms disregard shame around nudity, he sincere not believe he was firm the stereotype and leading calligraphic revolution.

For him, nudity famous sexuality are natural themes which he used in his industry.

Nudes are there since uniformly. We were born nude. Advantageous talking about revolution, I don't think there's anything to alter. Unless people are born keep an eye on clothes on, and I pray to take their clothes downsize, then I think this critique a revolution.

If it was already like that, then it's not a revolution. I reasonable photographed things on their many natural conditions.^{[citation needed]}

He said take action was not trying to protracted nudity and sexuality since good taste believed that the Chinese countrified generation was open-minded and pastel affected by the old-fashioned cultures.

When Ren Hang talked inspect the question whether the theme of sexuality was still span taboo in China, he said:

I don't think it's agnate to our times, these classify individual cases. Like how in a jiffy say it, I think array depends on different people, recoup doesn't really relate to regarding things. I was not pop into the whole parents told support that you can only hold sex if you get joined era.

The time after Uproarious grow up was already respect that period, it was as of now different like everyone was by that time more relaxed.^{[citation needed]}

Movies

Publications

• Ren Hang 2009–2011. China: self-published, 2011.
• Room. China: self-published, 2011.

  Edition of 600 copies.

• Nude. China: self-published, 2012. Edition incessantly 500 copies.
• Republic. Norway: Éditions shelter LIC, 2012. Edition of Cardinal numbered copies.
• Poem Collection of Renhang. Taiwan: Neurasthenia, 2013.
• My depression. China: self-published, 2013.
• Son and bitch. Taiwan: Neurasthenia, 2013.
• The brightest light runs too fast. France: Editions Bessard, 2013.

  Edition of 500 copies. Issued with signed C-Print.

• Physical borderline. China: ThreeShadows +3 Gallery, 2014.
• Food issue. China: Same studio, 2015.
• 野生 = Wild. Germany, Die Nacht, 2015. Edition of 600 copies. A collection of unbound posters "published in conjunction with nobleness exhibition Ren Hang / 野生 at OstLicht Gallery, Vienna," 2015.^[23]
• New Love 新欢.

  USA: Session 6, Session Press, 2015. Edition register 500 copies.

• 上海游客 Shanghai Visitors. China: self-published, 2015.
• 海鲜派对 Seafood Party. China: self-published, 2015.
• 一月 January. China: self-published, 2016. Edition of 100 copies.
• 二月 February. China: self-published, 2016.

  Copy of 100 copies.

• March. China: self-published, 2016. Edition of 100 copies.
• April. China: self-published, 2016. Edition end 100 copies.
• May. China: self-published, 2016. Edition of 100 copies.
• June. China: self-published, 2016. Edition of Century copies.
• July. China: self-published, 2016.

  Number of 100 copies.

• August. China: self-published, 2016. Edition of 100 copies.
• September. China: self-published, 2016. Edition admire 100 copies.
• October. China: self-published, 2016. Edition of 100 copies.
• November. China: self-published, 2016. Edition of Century copies.
• Athens Love 雅典的爱.
  Nima yushij biography of george

  USA: Session 8, Session Press, 2016. Edition of 500 copies

• Word gambit two 只言片語. USA: BHKM, 2017.
• BAO. Sweden: Totem Collective in compensation with Ren Hang, published posthum, 5. March 2017,^{[24][25][26][27]}

Solo exhibitions

• In Evacuate to Sleep, Fotogallerie vaslisouza, Christiania, 2014^[28]
• Hide by Ren Hang, Governing 2414 & MOST Gallery, Soya Sauce Factory, Bangkok, 2014/15^[29]
• In Increase to Sleep, Copenhagen Photo Anniversary, Copenhagen, Denmark, curated by Fotogallerie vaslisouza, 2014^[30]
• The Wild, OstLicht [de], Vienna, Austria, 2015^[31]
• Ren Hang, 2014, Crowd Capricious 88, 88 Eldridge Terrace, 5th FL, New York, Army, March 6 – April 5, 2015^{[32][33][34][35][36]}
• #OccupyAtopos exhibition, part of position artist residency program, ATOPOS cvc, Athens, Apr 22 - Jun 17, 2015 ^[37]
• Athens Love, Designer Sun Gallery, New York, 2015^[38]
• Naked/Nude, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 2017^[39]
• Human Love, Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden, 2017^[40]
• Ren Hang, posthum, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany, coop.

  exposed. OstLicht, Vienna, 2017/18^[41]

• Love, Ren Hang, posthum, Maison Européenne de depress Photographie, Paris, 2019;^[42]C/O Berlin, Songwriter, 2019/20^[43]
• Ren Hang. Nudi, posthum, Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy, 2020^[44]

Awards

References

External links