Liu Bolin: The Invisible Man [25 photos]

 

Liu Bolin is an artist from China’s Shandong province. Born in 1973, he currently lives and works in Beijing. Bolin received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Shandong College of Arts in 1995 and his Master of Fine Arts from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 2001. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world.

Known as The Invisible Man, Bolin’s most popular works are from his “Hiding in the City” series; photographic works that began as performance art in 2005. Helped by his assistants, Bolin stands still for hours in a landscape while they paint on him to create a camouflage, blending him into his surroundings. Bolin states:

 

“My intention was not to disappear in the environment but instead to let the environment take possession of me.”

 

Bolin is not looking for a way to disappear as an individual but insists on the damages caused by the economic and urban development on the individuals. This is a kind of silent hold where the human being loses his capacity to integrate. Bolin followed up his Beijing series of Hiding in the City with two derivative series of performances captured in Venice and New York City. Following the method of painting himself into the cityscapes, Liu choose Venice for its significance within the Western art tradition and New York City for the potency of the underlying conflicts between humans and the objects they create. [Source 1, 2]

Founded in 2006 by Flore and Romain Degoul, Galerie Paris-Beijing is dedicated to represent emerging and established artists within two main artistic focuses which are contemporary photography and more generally, the Asian art scene. On their website you can find an extensive collection of Liu Bolin’s work.

With galleries in Paris, Brussels and Beijing. Bolin has two upcoming solo exhibitions at Galeria Paris-Beijing. In Paris, Bolin has a solo exhibition from January 10th – March 9th, 2013. And in Brussels, Bolin will have a solo exhibit running from March 7th – May 11th, 2013. For more information please visit Galerie Paris-Beijing’s official website.