Ren Hang (photographer) - Knowledge (XXG)

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there were no preferred places for him to work, as he believed anywhere was beautiful and worthy to be shot, including sparse studios, parks, forests, and atop buildings. Ren's photos employ nude groups and solo portraits of men and women often contorted into highly performative positions. For example, hands reach down milky thighs, a limp penis flops onto a watermelon and a series of backsides imitate a mountain range.

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increasing visual impact. This, along with the fact all bodies were slim, lithe and relatively hairless, made the impact of his photographs more impressive. His work communicated a raw, stark aesthetic that countered taboos and celebrated sexuality. Someone concluded it was this contemporary form of poeticism in a visual context in which Ren Hang expressed themes of identity, the body, love, loss and death.

361:. This poetry is mainly about his enthusing emotions on describing the ideal love and life with lovers as well as the fear and loneliness when losing loves. The emotional erotic poetry usually comprises a handful of short lines, the tone ranging from humorous to sensual to dark. Here is an extract from a 2016 poem called 301:

It has been mentioned that Ren's work is softcore pornography because of the degree of nudity and sex in it, but he also worked with other themes. The most famous was titled "My Mum". Although still under a fetishistic atmosphere, posing with usual props in Ren's works like animals and plants, Ren's

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Nudity is not a theme in art which can be widely accepted by the Chinese older generation. Ren Hang's works are sometimes misinterpreted by the public as pornography. Although some have written that Ren Hang used his photographs to challenge Chinese cultural norms of shame around nudity, he did not

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Ren suffered from depression. He posted a series of diary entries titled "My depression" on his blog, recording the fear, anxiety and internal conflicts he experienced. On January 27, 2017, which is also the eve of the Chinese New Year, Ren posted his last Weibo, saying that "every year my wish is

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I don't think it's related to our times, these are individual cases. Like how to say it, I think it depends on different people, it doesn't really relate to other things. I was not in the whole parents told you that you can only have sex if you get married era. The time after I grow up was already

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Nudes are there since always. We were born nude. So talking about revolution, I don't think there's anything to revolutionize. Unless people are born with clothes on, and I want to take their clothes off, then I think this is a revolution. If it was already like that, then it's not a revolution. I

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Ren did not consider his work inappropriate: "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." This may account for his reticence to limit his work to indoor settings. He said

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During Ren's incipient career, he was known mostly for nude photographic portraits of his friends. His work is significant for its representation of Chinese sexuality within a heavily censored society. For these erotic undertones, he was arrested by PRC authorities several times. He received the

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Ren Hang mainly worked with a simple point-and-shoot camera. He would direct the models as to how to place their bodies and shoot in quick succession. Genitalia, breasts and anuses were not covered up, but featured, or accentuated with props and close-ups. Colors were rich and high in contrast,

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used his photo as the cover for its "Queer" theme. Commentators also see his work, the naked body and the starched penis, as evolving sexual mores and the struggle for creative and sexual freedom in a conservative, tightly controlled society. But Ren also announced "I don't try to get a message

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Ren first began taking pictures of his roommates and friends in 2007, shooting them in the nude as all were close and seeking excitement. In an interview, he also admitted: "I usually shoot my friends, because strangers make me nervous." He arranged his subjects' naked limbs in his photographs.

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people in Chinese society by 'indeterminating' sex and gender in some of his work: a group of naked bodies stacked together, people shot from behind, men wearing silk stockings and wearing lipstick. He denied having a preference in models: "Gender… only matters to me when I'm having sex." The

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He said he was not trying to liberate nudity and sexuality since he believed that the Chinese young generation was open-minded and less affected by the old-fashioned cultures. When Ren Hang talked about the question whether the topic of sexuality was still a taboo in China, he said:

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quoted him as once saying: "I don't want others having the impression that Chinese people are robots... Or they do have sexual genitals but always keep them as some secret treasures. I want to say that our cocks and pussies are not embarrassing at all." Ren also focused on

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My kisses compactly join as a line, like the snake swims around each rugged reef on your trembling body, then you turn into the snake, I turn into the reef, and then we turn into snakes, intertwining together, we turn into reefs, striking each other.

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Questioning the purpose of his work, he once stated that his creation was a way to seek fun for both photographer and the photographed. However, once he had reached fame on an international level, he began to think deeply about his work. The

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In 2007, in order to relieve the boredom of studying advertising at college, he bought a point-and-shoot camera and began photographing his friends. As a self-taught photographer, he said his style of photography was inspired by the artist

219:. "The images are fresh, but also empty and superficial. They contain a deep sadness within", commented by Ai Weiwei on Ren's artworks. Ren's erotic, playful and casual yet provocative expression gained him worldwide fame and recognition. 48: 382:

Ren Hang also expressed his homosexual experiences and identity in his poem collection published in 2016 by the independent publishing house EDITIONS BESSARD. Here is a poem written by Ren in 2008:

1904: 555:. Germany, Die Nacht, 2015. Edition of 600 copies. A collection of unbound posters "published in conjunction with the exhibition Ren Hang / 野生 at OstLicht Gallery, Vienna," 2015. 977: 402:. Here he recorded, sometimes in the form of poetry, his inner struggles against depression, including frequent hallucinations and hearing voices. In one poem, he wrote: 353:

Ren published his first English translated collection of his poetry in January 2017 by BHKM, New York, which selectively contained his poems from 2007 to 2016 named

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across, I don't give my works names, I don't date them. I don't want to instill them with any vocabulary. I don't like to explain my photos or work as a whole".

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Inside the bedroom filed with our fingerprints, those fingerprints keep enlarging, turn into growth rings, turn into mazes. We are lost with the whole world.

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Ren Hang is noted to be greatly influenced by Chinese and Asian contemporary art and in particular, Japanese photographer and contemporary artist

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believe he was challenging the stereotype and leading a revolution. For him, nudity and sexuality are natural themes which he used in his work.

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Throughout his life, he endured a long battle with depression, an experience he would often document on his website under a menu item titled

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mother posed as a clothed model, in a light-hearted way to represent her daily life. Ren's photographs have been included in magazines

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that featured portraits of every person he met, as well as ornaments like used condoms, hair, or mark-making to go with each photo.

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Chen, Shuxia (2018). "Ren Hang: Bodies Without Redemption". In Ivan Franceschini; Nicholas Loubere (eds.).

1879: 1554: 1498: 1828: 327: 1391:", Totem Collective in collaboration with Ren Hang, book published on issuu.com. Accessed 09 July 2022. 1688: 1884: 1874: 1222: 978:"What we do is secret: An interview with controversial and provocative Chinese photographer Ren Hang" 1840: 293: 1249: 956: 1274: 1847:

The erotic images taken by a Chinese photographer that provoked a sex-shy nation to censor him

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exhibition, part of the artist residency program, ATOPOS cvc, Athens, Apr 22 - Jun 17, 2015

661:. Sweden: Totem Collective in collaboration with Ren Hang, published posthum, 5. March 2017, 188: 136: 113: 709:, Gallery Capricious 88, 88 Eldridge Street, 5th FL, New York, USA, March 6 – April 5, 2015 1800: 1181:"Controversial and renowned Chinese photographer Ren Hang dies aged 29 - 1854 Photography" 686:, Copenhagen Photo Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark, curated by Fotogallerie vaslisouza, 2014 429: 317: 283: 24: 1749: 157: 232:

Ren was born in 1987, in a suburb of Changchun, Jilin province, in northeastern China.

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France: Editions Bessard, 2013. Edition of 500 copies. Issued with signed C-Print.

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over that period, it was already different like everyone was already more relaxed.

1769: 1668: 331: 287: 204: 1388: 1325: 1298: 1579: 1253: 761: 1604:"Gallery Capricious 88, announcement card, Ren Hang 2014, exhibition in 2015" 1241: 1123:"I Hate My Past and I Don't Want to Know My Future: The presence of Ren Hang" 961: 1364: 200: 61: 47: 1708: 1628: 195:; March 30, 1987 – February 24, 2017) was a Chinese photographer and poet. 893:"Ren Hang at Foam: The Must-See NSFW Exhibition - The Public House of Art" 770:, posthum, Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy, 2020 1728: 1457: 698: 1376: 1834: 1330: 1303: 1006: 833:"Controversial and renowned Chinese photographer Ren Hang dies aged 29" 83: 1853:

Ren Hang, Famed and Controversial Chinese Photographer, Dead at Age 29

216: 680:, MOST 2414 & MOST Gallery, Soy Sauce Factory, Bangkok, 2014/15 323: 212: 69: 65: 649:雅典的爱. USA: Session 8, Session Press, 2016. Edition of 500 copies 432:, as well as the Japanese poet, film director, and photographer 391:

If I were heterosexual, then I'll have sex reassignment surgery

1558: 1502: 1367:", Totem Collective x Ren Hang, Page 1, Accessed 09 July 2022. 1223:"Ren Hang's Provocative Photographs Show a China We Rarely See" 1122: 561:新欢. USA: Session 6, Session Press, 2015. Edition of 500 copies. 1379:", Totem Collective x Ren Hang, Page 2, Accessed 09 July 2022. 512:

Norway: Éditions du LIC, 2012. Edition of 500 numbered copies.

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Ren's original website content as an online available archive

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https://www.arshake.com/en/premio-terna-03-%E2%80%A2-2010/

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just photographed things on their more natural conditions.

1555:"Gallery Capricious 88 renamed itself to Company Gallery" 1208: 1054:"Controversial Chinese Photographer Ren Hang Dies at 29" 863:"Ren Hang, Provocative Chinese Photographer, Dies at 29" 1831:, as archived by the Wayback Machine on 5 February 2017 1841:

Stark, erotic images of Chinese youth stir controversy

1524:"Ren Hang: 2014 Press Release – Gallery Capricious 88" 750:, Leipzig, Germany, coop. w. OstLicht, Vienna, 2017/18 1859:"Ren Hang" celebrates the Chinese Photographer's Work 472:(2017) – documentary directed by Ximing Zhang, 44 min 162: 148: 643: