What We Do Is Secret: Read Our Intimate Interview Of Controversial and Provocative Chinese Photographer Ren Hang →

Ren Hang’s photographs rake a dagger across the main artery of sociosexual norms and leave a glittering crime scene of bodies splayed across the frame in ecstatic and erotic forms. As a Chinese artist, this makes his work even more incendiary and provocative – even in the face of his home country’s strict censorship laws. We got a chance to interview Hang (pronounced ‘hung’) back in 2011, when his work was just gaining international recognition. Over the years, he has had solo exhibitions in almost every major city. With his current show on view now at MAMA gallery, he can put Los Angeles on that list. In a back office at the gallery, before the opening of his show, we were able to conduct a second interview and ask the controversial Beijing-based artist about his work, his explosive career and his place in the current photographic and artistic zeitgeist. Hang is notoriously media shy, because he wants the work to speak for itself. Work that is unplanned, unchoreographed and not scripted in any way. Click here to read more. 

Ren Hang "What We Do Is Secret" @ MAMA Gallery In Los Angeles

Perhaps inadvertently, Ren Hang’s subject matter and seemingly simple technique have transcendent ramifications. His subjects project an irreverence that directly disrupts the restrictive realm of heteronormativity and presents alternate sexual and aesthetic realities. The title of Hang’s exhibition, What We Do Is Secret, references the music of punk band the Germs, which aligns with the provocative spirit of the artist’s images. Antagonism abounds in Hang’s work with a counterculture-fueled rebellion lying at its core. Ren Hang "What We Do Is Secret"  will be on view at MAMA Gallery until July 23, 2016. 

Cult Chinese Photographer Ren Hang Debuts His New Series, Athens Love, This Week In New York

“Athens Love” consists of snapshots Ren Hang took in Athens and other parts of Attica, Greece, during an artist residency in April, 2015. The images evoke faded memories of escapades with friends and lovers against the saturated backdrop of the Mediterranean. An incandescent face rises from a tumble of long black hair, bordered by a blue sky and sea; protruding genitals cheekily reflect the surrounding natural landscape. Linking these images is a narrative Ren Hang subtly pursues in all his work, in which man and nature each react to the other’s magic. Ren Hang will be signing copies of monograph, Athens Love, at New York’s Dashwood Books on March 25, 2016 with an exhibition at Klein Sun Gallery  in New York from 24 March 2016 to April 30, 2016. Click here to read Autre's short interview with the photographer. 

Wunderkind Chinese Photographer Ren Hang Has First Solo Show In Japan

Opening tonight in Tokyo, at the Matchbaco Gallery, wunderkind Chinese photographer Ren Hang will present new photographs taken in New York City. A new publication featuring works from this series will be published by Session Press and distributed by Dashwood Books. Ren Hang "New Love" will open tonight at Matchbaco Gallery and it will run until July 25, 2015.  

5 Must See Solo Exhibitions at Paris Photo Los Angeles 2015

Paris Photo Los Angeles returns to Paramount Pictures Studios where the photographic medium will be celebrated among the famous backlot movie sets, sound stages and classic replica's of New York City storefronts and streets. Here are some of the most exciting, must see solo exhibitions that will be on display: 1. Ren Hang presented by Capricious 88 (Stage 14 - Stand 4) 2. Cole Sternberg presented by MAMA (NYB / Stand H3) 3. David Benjamin Sherry presented by OHWOW (Stage 32 / Stand 15) 4. Guy Bourdin presented by Louise Alexander (Stage 31 / Stand 5) 5. Juergen Teller presented by Suzanne Tarasieve (NYB / Stand G5)