Homework 3 Bell

Allison Bell Heidi Kumano TMP 3 November 12, 2012 Cotemporary Chinese artist Liu Bolin is often referred to as the “invisible man”. Ironically, being the invisible man, is what has made him known around the world. His performance art piece that I chose to research is titled, Hiding in the City. Inspired from a profound experience when he watched helplessly as police officers demolished the village where he worked and lived, produced the first photo of the series, of Liu standing in front of his destroyed studio, his clothes and face painted so that he blends into the broken and shattered facade. Beginning in 2005, he is expanding and perfecting this series to this day. Camouflaging himself into hundreds of scenes around the world from vermilion gates of the Forbidden City, supermarket aisles, Olympic propaganda billboards, the lagoons of Venice, Ground Zero, the Wall Street bull to simple beautiful street graffiti (Parsons). Hiding in the City, consists of photographs of himself completely camouflaged. He uses his body as a canvas, painting himself all over his face and clothing, head to toe. His works combine painting, installation, sculpture and photography into a repeated visual pattern extremely unique. Every individual image resonates with a different meaning; repression, power, suffering, and luxury. Often he’s impossible to detect at a first glance, but he aims to be ever so off center. “When I move a bit, it lets people look and think about the art,” he says. “I don’t want to fade into the larger scene (Levin). Levin, Dan. "Chinese Artist Liu Bolin: The Internet’s Invisible Man." Newsweek Magazine. 15 2012: 1-3. Print. Parsons, Michael. "The International Journal of Arts Education ." International Journal of Arts Education . 1.1 (2010): 10. Print.