CNN
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With bright red acrylic paint smeared in their hair, the subjects of Chinese artist Liu Bolin’s latest work pose side-by-side in a scene that evokes one of China’s most historically significant battles.
Liu finished his latest work “CHIBI – No BLOOD” as part of his “TARGET” series in Hong Kong in two days this week, depicting the Battle of Red Cliffs or Battle of Chibi, a bloody encounter in 208 AD, which foreshadowed the end of the Han dynasty.
Better known as the “Invisible Man,” Liu has, perhaps paradoxically, attracted international attention by camouflaging himself in images in his “Hiding in the City” series.
His latest work employs 18 people from diverse backgrounds who, painted head to toe in red and yellow, blend into the backdrop of an ancient painting, “Red Cliff” by Jin dynasty artist Wu Yuanzhi, from the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
Courtesy of Liu Bolin
Participants in Liu's latest work were painted head to toe in red and yellow.
Liu chose Hong Kong to unveil his work as a comment on the city’s political evolution.
“Hong Kong has always had a special place in history as an intersection of the East and the West. I think it [my work] can provide an opportunity for people to discuss Hong Kong’s reality, history and future problems and others all over the world,” he says.
Liu has been discussing social and political issues, as well as the relationship between the individual and society since the mid-2000s.
His past works include painting himself inside a supermarket in Pyongyang, North Korea, and a collaboration with the UN where he blended into the flags of the 193 UN countries.
Courtesy Klein Sun Gallery, © Liu Bolin
Liu Bolin is a master of disguise. The Chinese artist is known for painting himself onto different landscapes, and his most recent series,
Art Hacker, is inspired by classic works of art. Here he uses his signature camouflage technique to recreate Picasso's 1937 "Guernica."
Courtesy Klein SunGallery, © Liu Bolin
Art Hacker is currently on display at Klein Sun gallery in New York. Here, Liu recreated the Mona Lisa.
Courtesy Klein Sun Gallery, © Liu Bolin
Liu often weaves social and political themes into his work. This image shows the traumatic impact of a factory explosion in Tianjin which killed 170 people in 2015.
courtesy liu bolin via klein sun gallery
In April, his work was also featured in an exhibition titled 'We Are What We Eat,' which critiques food waste and consumption.
courtesy liu bolin via klein sun gallery
This exhibition was hosted by the United Nations Headquarters.
liu bolin via klein sun gallery
He recently traveled to Italy and captured images for his "Migrants" series.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
Over the past decade he's highlighted some of the world's most pressing issues with his work.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
A recent piece, "The Future," is in support of a new United Nations Campaign called Global Goals.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
Liu, who has worked on 'disappearing' since 2005, says he never tires of this technique. "I never thought to stop disappearing, instead I always think about other ideas to work on."
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
In China, it's a common sight to see advertisements like these plastered on walls. Liu has to stand, patiently for hours at a time, while his assistants paint him to match a chosen backdrop.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
The artist work has evolved to include other people. In this piece, he paints 23 residents affected by one of China's infamous cancer villages. Chemical factories can be seen in the distance. "When I made this work about a cancer village, my art reflected human suffering through commemoration and grief."
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
One of the issues that Liu addresses in his work is consumerism. "I believe the development of modern society is generated by human desire," he opines.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
In recent years, Liu's works have touched upon modern day technologies -- which he finds worrying. "In the modern era, everyone is just a piece of data, which is valued less and less everyday. Meanwhile technologies achieved by desire, or the possibilities of some sort of human development, is winning over the hearts of modern day people."
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
"After these 10 years of my creative career—as far as I come—when I'm creating a work, or just viewing one, or just trying to express my idea as an artist, the most important part about the work is my attitude towards reality," Liu says.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
Liu Bolin collaborated with French street artist JR on this work. Liu hides himself in one of JR's large-scale murals in New York City.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
In earlier works, Liu would have to paint himself to 'melt' into backgrounds. As he became more famous, he enlisted the help of studio assistants to help with more intricate details.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
This mural, which conceals both Liu Bolin and Bon Jovi, became the album cover for Bon Jovi's What About Now. The background mural was designed by Alex Haldi.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
Big, four-character red slogans are commonly found throughout China. They are used to spread propaganda and political messages.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
"When I pick a background and disappear, I've already expressed my attitude towards society, the future, and desire. It's a deep understanding that I bring to the audience," Liu says.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
Liu has travelled the world for exhibitions. He has 'hid' in cities around the world. Of his progression, Liu says, "I think the imbalance of human development is embodied more and more in my works."
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
In this piece, Liu vanishes into a forest of tall birch trees. Can you spot him?
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
In an early work from 2006, Liu painted himself to match the background of 2008 Beijing Olympics mascots that began appearing throughout the city. Huge swaths of the city's old hutongs were torn down to make way for the event.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
This photo is one of nine in his Dragon series. The dragon is a symbol of power, strength and good luck in China.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
Liu found this blown-up photo depicting China's prosperity and might, on a billboard in the center of the city. "I am trying to dive much deeper into the issues of human development," Liu says, of his evolving body of work.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
Earlier this May, Liu and his team hacked into 8 European Countries' official websites, and replaced parts of the sites with photos from his studio.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
"The point of my Hacker Series is to question the relationship between a country and its people, the domination of a government's political power, as well as the rights to the photos themselves," says Liu.
© Klein Sun Gallery/Liu Bolin
Liu Bolin's first series, Hiding in the City, began in 2005. He camouflaged himself into the ruins of his demolished art studio as a form of silent protest. "After that," Liu says, "I shifted my focus to heated social issues."
liu bolin via klein sun gallery
For Bolin's latest "Migrants" series, he asked refugees to pose.
liu bolin via klein sun gallery
The three artworks in "Migrants" are titled "The Hope," "Target - Memory Day" and "Target - Blue Europe."
“The world we live in is not a peaceful place,” says Liu, “with things like terror attacks and regional religious war on the news, I think I can’t avoid (addressing) these as an artist.”
Liu’s latest work seeks to combine the idea of blood spilt during wartime with modern diversity, to send a message of hope for a more inclusive society. The artist uses a combination of new and traditional techniques to construct the image.
First, the participants’ backs are painted red, representing blood, war and life, and their chests are painted yellow, symbolizing Chinese tradition and inheritance.
Liu then positions the volunteers in front of the backdrop and takes a photo. The rest of the image is photoshopped in, to act as a guideline for artists who are standing by to paint each body. It takes hours to cover each volunteer with enough paint and detail to allow them to blend into the backdrop. Some of the participants even begin to paint each other.
Courtesy of Liu Bolin
It takes hours to cover each volunteer with enough paint and detail to allow them to blend into the backdrop.
“Now that we are painted in the same color we look the same,” says Brooklyn Etzel, an American student who lives in Hong Kong. “And this may be what humanity is eventually heading towards, where all our ethnicities mingle and our skin color becomes irrelevant.”
Apart from his work with human bodies, the artist uses various platforms to remain relevant in an era of rapidly changing digital media.
“I am quite sensitive to the world and I have tried to convey a lot of messages through my work. Humans have inevitably come to a new media age or smartphone age,” says Liu.
Liu started creating video works in 2015, and the following year live-streamed smog in Beijing with 24 phones attached on his orange vest to raise awareness about the city’s alarming air pollution.
Courtesy Klein SunGallery, © Liu Bolin
in 2016, Liu recreated Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, and hired a hacker to replace images of them in search results on numerous websites on Google and Baidu.
In his 2016 Hacker series, he painstakingly recreated classical masterpieces, including the Mona Lisa, and hired a hacker to replace images of them in search results on numerous websites on Google and Baidu.
Liu says he works to stay relevant in the rapidly changing world of art through a constant process of reinvention. “I am trying to challenge myself every day and I am eager to change myself dramatically,” he says.
“New Change,” Liu Bolin’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, is showing at Over the Influence gallery in Hong Kong from March 28 – April 27, 2019.