I first encountered Liu Bolin’s photographs in perhaps the ideal way: by chance, on a city street. Walking aimlessly through Soho the other day, I happened to peer into the Eli Klein gallery and saw large prints of what first appeared to be empty landscapes in China. A closer look revealed a camouflaged human form in the middle of each scene. It turns out that for this series, “Hiding in the City,” Liu had himself painted to blend in with a variety of backgrounds all over Beijing.
The result is both witty and unmistakably political. Liu says he began the series after authorities shut down Beijing’s Suo Jiacun (Artist Village), in 2006. “At that time,” Liu told the Daily Mail, “contemporary art was in quick development in Beijing, but the government decided it did not want artists like us to gather and live together.” The photographs require him to pose for as long as ten hours while his collaborators perfect his painted disguise. “I am standing, but there is a silent protest, the protest against the environment for the survival, the protest against the state,” Liu said. “My work is a kind of reminder, to remind people what the community we live in really looks like.”
The show at Eli Klein, “Liu Bolin: On Fire,” closes on June 4th, and includes a variety of Liu’s work, including sculpture. Here’s a selection from “Hiding in the City.”
