Photographer for Research Project.
A photographer, and artist that I bumped into was Ren Hang who has absolutely beautiful work that really makes you think why he placed objects to trigger thoughts and questions. Sadly, the photography passed away a year ago at such a young age and his work is still timeless.
His work was known for being controversial and questionable due to nudity and the use of animals in his portraits. He passed at the age of being only 30. As Ren Hang was opposed by his whole country due to his expression of sexuality in whatever form, Ren struggled with sexual freedom and expression since he is Chinese which is shown in his work, he struggled although his work is adored around the entire world.
Ren became a self taught artist, and photographer based in Beijing in China who was born on the 30th of March, 1987 whom also suffered from depression and mental health issues due to the politics of the country he was born in, similar to his role model Ai WeiWei whom also struggled with almost getting arrested multiple times for his 'art'. He began taking nude photographs of his friend's during college as he was bored during studying advertising.
His work was known for being controversial and questionable due to nudity and the use of animals in his portraits. He passed at the age of being only 30. As Ren Hang was opposed by his whole country due to his expression of sexuality in whatever form, Ren struggled with sexual freedom and expression since he is Chinese which is shown in his work, he struggled although his work is adored around the entire world.
Ren became a self taught artist, and photographer based in Beijing in China who was born on the 30th of March, 1987 whom also suffered from depression and mental health issues due to the politics of the country he was born in, similar to his role model Ai WeiWei whom also struggled with almost getting arrested multiple times for his 'art'. He began taking nude photographs of his friend's during college as he was bored during studying advertising.
There are no rules in Ren Hang's world.
(Ren Hang - It's Nice That)
Ren's photography style is based around nudity, sexuality and nature in all forms amongst contrasts of the sexual expression through the playful poses, locations and lightness in his work makes it more intriguing.
“I do not think nudity is challenging – nudity is common, everybody has it,” says Ren Hang. “I like people naked and I like sex; I use nudity so that I can feel more realism and sense of presence.”
- BJP, 2017.
Ren has always denied the fact that his work is political in any manner, although his work is nudity in it's natural condition. According to Ren, his shoots are planned spontaneously with no planning, no names, dates, messages or explanations in what he wants to do in his art.
His work is truly poetry in photographic form.
He also worked with incredible artists such as Frank Ocean for his Boy's Don't Cry Zines that got released after the drop of Blonde which is Frank's second album.
(Ren Hang - Athens Love, 2015.)
(Ren behind the scenes of Boy's Don't Cry Zine shoot)
(Ren Hang for Boy's Don't Cry Zine by Frank Ocean.)
Ren's photography style is based around nudity, sexuality and nature in all forms amongst contrasts of the sexual expression through the playful poses, locations and lightness in his work makes it more intriguing.
“I do not think nudity is challenging – nudity is common, everybody has it,” says Ren Hang. “I like people naked and I like sex; I use nudity so that I can feel more realism and sense of presence.”
- BJP, 2017.
Ren has always denied the fact that his work is political in any manner, although his work is nudity in it's natural condition. According to Ren, his shoots are planned spontaneously with no planning, no names, dates, messages or explanations in what he wants to do in his art.
His work is truly poetry in photographic form.
He also worked with incredible artists such as Frank Ocean for his Boy's Don't Cry Zines that got released after the drop of Blonde which is Frank's second album.
(Ren Hang - Athens Love, 2015.)
(Ren behind the scenes of Boy's Don't Cry Zine shoot)
(© Ren Hang, p. 135, published by Taschen 2016)
"People come into this world naked and I consider naked bodies to be people's original, authentic look."
REN HANG
"Why does Ren Hang make photographs? Because "it fills the emptiness of my heart," he tells me."
- (Wilfred Chan, from an interview, 2017)
Sources:
Frank Ocean, Boy's Don't Cry, 2017.
CNN, 2017.
BJP, online, 2017.
Ren Hang (Fo), 2016.
You have chosen a strong photographer Elisha and demonstrated sound research skills with well chosen quotes from the artist. This is well done. The next step is begin to reflect and interpret the artist's work from your own point of view. You mention that Ren Fang denies that his work is political implying that others do. What do you think? The images you have chosen are very strong and I particularly like the first image of the young woman holding the black painted fish. To me this image is full of symbolism and thinking that carp are culturally significant in china I had a look on the internet and found this from the china daily:
ReplyDeleteThe words for fish and abundance are pronounced the same in Chinese (鱼,yu) so the fish in the Chinese culture symbolizes wealth. ... Known to most Westerners as Koi Fish, the Chinese carp has numerous symbolic values within Chinese culture. The carp is a powerful symbol of strength and perseverance.
What do you make of these juxtapositions? black paint +fish + naked young woman ? Don't be afraid to voice your interpretations and opinions on artist's work. The image is complete in the viewers mind and many artists deliberately keep their intentions quiet so the viewer brings their own experience to the work. A good start.
Thankyou!!!
DeleteI will eleborate further in the post on how I feel about his photographs :)