Can You Spot The Artist?

By Meera Dolasia on 01/24/2011

All artists are passionate and close to their creations, but very few can claim to be as connected to their masterpieces as 38-year old Liu Bolin, who literally melts into them - Sometimes so effectively, that it is tough to find him.

Also known as the Invisible Artist, Liu's urban camouflage paintings began as a way to make a political statement. It all happened shortly after the young artist graduated from China's prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts. Unable to find a suitable job, he settled down with a number of fellow artists at the Soukia Village Art Campus in Beijing. However, the Chinese Government forced them to shut it down, simply because they were not too thrilled about contemporary artists getting together all the time.

This early experience of how people without jobs, homes or any kind of social status feel, is what steered him to create his rather unusual paintings. According to him, the artist in each painting is hiding in order to protect himself, whilst he restores his strength.

As you can imagine, the art he creates is not easy. He starts by finding an image that he wishes to disappear into and then, poses besides to get blended in - A process that sometimes involves not moving a limb, for ten hours at a time.

Over the years, the artist has merged himself into all kinds of places - Ranging from the Great Wall of China to rubble caused by the Sichuan earthquake. In a series of works entitled 'Hiding in Italy', he blended into famous historic places like Venice's Piazza San Marco and Milan's Duoma di Milano. He has even painted himself into supermarket shelves and best of all, the American Flag!

Sources:swide.com,dailymail.co.uk,demilked.com

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Comments (375)

jisitu 13 days ago

i agree in wolf because i spot him in a second

Replying to jisitu
victoria 16 days ago

this is to bananas. you are bananas. seriously. you try doing that. i mean they spend hours working on it and it is truely art. itt is a challenging task and you cant even apreciate it. look at how much time they spend. be respectful. same thing to wolf. be appreciative.

Replying to victoria
izzysk8er 28 days ago

wow! that's cool! if i saw him in real, i think i would've freaked out!

Replying to izzysk8er
Jennifer Y about 1 month ago

Amazing!

Replying to Jennifer Y
sonicthehedgehog 4 months ago

TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Replying to sonicthehedgehog
swirlylollypops 5 months ago

I agree with Hello! If you think that this is NOT cool...well TRY IT YOURSELF!! SEE IF YOU CAN DO BETTER!!!! >:(

Replying to swirlylollypops
Hello! 6 months ago

Guy who chose human as avatar name. If you think it's so easy do it yourself.

Replying to Hello!
HUMAN 6 months ago

TOO EASY

Replying to HUMAN
bezi12 6 months ago

cool!

Replying to bezi12
bananas 6 months ago

their so easyy to spot and why waste your time letting others paint you? i don't get the point of this video. Is it to fascinate people?

Replying to bananas