Meet Liu Bolin, the Invisible Man, an artist with the ability to disappear. This 36-year-old is able to blend into any surroundings – no matter how complicated they might be.
Actually, he paints himself to merge with whatever scenery is behind him. But still, it’s pretty amazing. In some of the pictures it takes a minute to spot him, and when viewed from a distance in real life, people have stated they don’t even notice him until he moves.
Liu Bolin graduated from the prestigious Sculpture Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts in Shanghai. He says that his work requires a lot of patience, sometimes spending 10 hours trying to get the details just right. He says his intention is to show how city surroundings affect people living in them. He is inspired by “not fitting in to modern society.” He sees his work as a silent protest against the Government’s persecution of artists.
The Chinese authorities shut down his art studio in Beijing in 2005. Contemporary art was in quick development, but the Government decided it did not want artists to gather and live together.
“The situation for artists in China is very difficult,” he says. “The forced removal of the artist’s studio is in fact my direct inspiration for this series, ‘Hiding in the city.’”
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