Spotlight is a curated PHOTOFAIRS initiative. Its main objective is to highlight an artist of international renown who is of particular relevance and importance to the contemporary photography space and market at the time of the fair.

Alongside Insights and Staged, Spotlight is part of PHOTOFAIRS’ ongoing mission to present cutting-edge exhibitions alongside the booths of participating dealers. These focused initiatives give collectors a myriad of opportunities to experience a variety of presentations, which underline the formidable aesthetic and intellectual  power characteristic of the photographic arts.
KWM artcenter is pleased to show an exhibition of the final works printed and authenticated by the late Chinese photographer Ren Hang for the PHOTOTFAIRS Shanghai. All 19 works, originally displayed at the KWM artcenter in Beijing for his last exhibition ‘Beauty Without Beards’ in February 2017, demonstrate his instinctive affinity to the medium of photography. Since his death a reassessment of his work has begun avoiding the heavily emphasised sexual-political framework within which his work was often contextualised during his life.
Through research of his interviews, both with himself and with those who were close to him, personally and professionally, as well as looking closer at the way he lived, his belongings and images he looked at, one can clearly see that there are art historical and aesthetic precedents that present an often-ignored filter through which to understand his work.
This exhibition highlights his enthusiasm for abstraction within the human body. The male bodies in this selection of his works are naked, alive, tactile and desirable and, at same time, also compositions, gestures, arrangements and forms. Both human and inhuman.

KWM artcenter

The KWM artcenter opened on 20th October 2016. It is located on the second floor of the WFC centre CBD in Beijing. The new art center is supported by the law firm King & Wood Mallesons and an KWM artcenter affiliated private art fund. The KWM artcenter has over 700 sqm of exhibition space, including an exhibition space, a VIP room and an educational space. It will be used to present and promote artists both domestically and overseas. In particular, it will act as a rare art institution at the heart of the economic central area in Beijing. It will provide high-quality art educational activities and courses aimed to cultivate art lovers and collectors. It serves to improve the international influence of Chinese Art and become a powerful communicator of Chinese Contemporary Art.

About the Artists

Ren Hang was born in Changchun, Jilin Province, China, in 1987. He is presently based in Beijing. He has held 22 solo exhibitions and been included in 85 group exhibitions worldwide. In addition, 16 photo books and a poetry collection have been published. His works are collected internationally in over 20 countries such as: France, Italy, Germany, UK, Sweden, USA, Japan, Austria, Mexico, Greece, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Russia, Israel and Lithuania.