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Adults Only

Ren Hang

50Edition: Multilingual (English, French, German)Availability: In Stock
The only international collection of Beijing photographer Ren Hang, whose images garnered some 90 shows in his brief six-year career, as well as a mass following online. Vivid and explicit, Hang’s images capture naked subjects outdoors, exposed, erect, and in an entanglement of bodies that put him at the forefront of a gender fluid world and of Chinese artists’ battle for creative freedom.
Hardcover8.9 x 11.8 in.4.39 lb312 pages
“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.”
Ren Hang in The New York Times
Adults Only
Ren Hang

Ren Hang

50

Tribute to Ren Hang

The Chinese photographer’s international and complete career monograph

Ren Hang, who took his life February 23, 2017, was an unlikely rebel. Slight of build, shy by nature, prone to fits of depression, the 29-year-old Beijing photographer was nonetheless at the forefront 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, Paris, New York, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Vienna, and yes, even Beijing. He self-published 16 monographs, in tiny print runs, that now sell for up to $ 600. TASCHEN’s Ren Hang is his only international collection, covering his entire career, with well-loved favorites and many never-before-seen photos of men, women, Beijing, and those many, many erections. We take solace remembering Ren’s joy when he first held the book, shared by his long-time partner Jiaqi, featured on the cover.
The photographer

Chinese photographer Ren Hang (1987–2017) was born in Changchun, Jilin Province, and lived and worked in Beijing. Over his brief six-year career, Hang’s surreal, startling, gender-fluid images gained a huge international following as well as over 20 solo and 70 group shows.

The editor

Dian Hanson is a senior editor and writer for TASCHEN, with over 50 books to her credit. In addition to ARNOLD, her recent works include The Art of Pin-up, Masterpieces of Fantasy Art, and The Fantastic Worlds of Frank Frazetta.
Read here how it all began.

Ren Hang
Hardcover22.5 x 30 cm1.99 kg312 pages

ISBN 978-3-8365-6207-2

Edition: Multilingual (English, French, German)
Download product images here

4.9

/5

10 Ratings

A little gem

Noemie,October 28, 2021
This book is really fantastic, for fans of Ren Hang or not! The photos are absolutely sublime and the format of the book is perfect to enjoy them!

Raw, tender moment in time

Sherry,October 27, 2021
The late Ren Hang was a massively talented queer producer of art, which is shown in this monograph of his work up til his death. With friends' bodies, his own, and many others he creates a sensual and sadly fleeting world of flesh and comradery.

Good discovery !

Humberto,October 27, 2021
It was pleasant to discover this artist (I knew a few) ... the images are great the red cover is tres chic !

Increible libro

Isabelle,October 27, 2021
Increible libro sobre la juventud china por el fallecido pero inolvidable Ren Hang.

A+

Jeffery,October 27, 2021
Fantastic overview of the late Ren Hang’s super sexy freaky and weird work. Beautiful and well made book too.