Ren Hang

The Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung recently acquired more than 60 works by Chinese artist Ren Hang and now holds one of the most significant collections of works by this exceptional photographer, consisting of over 70 pieces.

Ren Hang took his life in February 2017 at the age of just 29. At that time, he was already one of China’s most extraordinary young photographers, celebrated the world over with solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Amsterdam, and Leipzig.

Ren Hang left his hometown in northern China at an early age to study advertising in Beijing. Back then, he was photographing his friends with a small Minolta camera – and found his calling in photography.

Like a film director, Ren Hang composes individual, mostly naked bodies, which he arranges next to or on top of each other in strange poses, in crazy or sculptural configurations, sometimes in the open air. He adorns them with flowers, feathers, and animals. What may appear playful is subject to a strict choreography of composition and color. Ren Hang’s photographs are mostly untitled and undated. They are surreal, dazzling, and slightly overexposed, which makes the beauty of bodies, sexuality, and desire even more dramatic. The echoes of Nan Goldin, Jürgen Teller, and Araki Nobuyoshi are unmistakable.