© Liu Bolin/Courtesy of Galerie Paris-Beijing.  Hide in the City, Panda, 2012.

Liu Bolin, also known as ‘the chameleon man’ is a Chinese artist (b. 1973) who disguises himself in his surroundings, constantly playing along the boundary between visibility and invisibility. Using various media including sculpture, body art, painting, and photography, Liu Bolin creates performance art installations where he poses motionless for hours, completely swallowed up by the environment. He eschews Photoshop post-production, and makes meticulous use instead of painting and perspective–and many test shots–to capture the camouflage effects of his installations on film.

Liu Bolin’s solo exhibition, Hiding in the City, will open on January 10th in the gallery‘s Paris space and remain on view until March 9, 2013.

-Courtesy of Galerie Paris-Beijing.

(more…)

French photographer and street artist JR. © Zachary Bako

While doing an artist residency in Beijing, photographer Zachary Bako started documenting the contemporary art scene in China. But it wasn’t until he returned home to New York City that he would meet Liu Bolin, who was working on his series “Hiding in New York.” Bako began photographing Liu’s creative process for the images, which show Liu painted to blend into the background of various sites around the city.

Within six months, Bako relocated to Beijing and began his own series “Liu Bolin: The Process.” Using both still images and video, Bako continues to record and document what goes on behind the scenes in order for Liu to make photographs for his “Hiding in the City” series. Here, Bako chronicles a collaboration between Liu and French photographer JR. For the work, JR photographed Liu, enlarged the image, and pasted it on his studio’s exterior wall and door. Then Liu painted JR to blend into the image and photographed the resulting work.

Liu’s exhibit “Lost in Art” is currently on display at Eli Klein Fine Art in New York City through May 11.

(more…)