Ren Hang: Athens Love

March 23 – April 23, 2016

Ren Hang
2015
C-print
26 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches (67 x 100 cm)

Ren Hang
2015
C-print
39 3/8 x 26 3/8 inches (100 x 67 cm)

Ren Hang
2015
C-print
39 3/8 x 26 3/8 inches (100 x 67 cm)

Ren Hang
2015
C-print
26 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches (67 x 100 cm)

Ren Hang
2015
C-print
26 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches (67 x 100 cm)

Press Release

Klein Sun Gallery is pleased to announce “Athens Love,” a solo photography show by Beijing-based artist Ren Hang, on view from March 24 through April 28, 2016.

Ren is a poet and photographer. Splicing imagery of urban and rural environments as a metaphor for the increasingly citified millennials of today, he arranges the naked limbs of his friends in his hide-and-seek photographs. In these images, the subjects’ expressions are casual yet provocative, hinting at the erotic and playful energies between Ren Hang and his intimate circle of companions.

“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 was born in 1987 in Jilin, China. His work has been included in museum exhibitions worldwide, such as “Medium of Desire: An International Anthology of Photography and Video,” Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York, NY (2015-2016); "Contemporary Photography in China 2009-2014,” Minsheng Art
Museum, Shanghai, China (2014); “FACELESS,” Stichting Mediamatic, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2014); “FACELESS part 1,” Museums Quartier, Vienna, Austria (2013); “Fuck Off 2 Chinese Contemporary Art Document,” Groninger Museum, Netherlands (2013); “Originate from Energy Resource,” Multimedia Art Museum Moscow, Moscow, Russia (2012) and “Curated by Rong Rong - Qui & Ren Hang INNER EAR,” Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2011).

The exhibition is accompanied by a monograph published by Session Press. For press inquiries, please contact Ysabelle Cheung at the gallery (212.255.4388) or via email at ysabelle@kleinsungallery.com. For all other inquiries, please contact Casey Burry at the gallery (212.255.4388) or via email at casey@kleinsungallery.com.

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