Liu Bolin Shandong, China, b. 1973.

Chinese artist and photographer born in Shandong Province and living in Beijing, where he obtained a sculpture diploma from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2001. His beginnings as a sculptor were interrupted in 2005 by the expropriation and destruction of his studio, in front of whose ruins he took his first self-portrait.

In his series “Urban Camouflages”, Liu Bolin paints himself using traditional painting techniques with the purpose of integrating his image into a common setting, such as a garden or a newsstand, and then photographs himself. When the viewer is confronted with these “camouflages” he discovers the figure of the artist as an element alien to the landscape, which produces unsuspected readings through the perception of what was supposedly invisible.

Although the final support of the work is Photography, the artist enriches his discourse by simultaneously traveling through the world of sculpture, body painting and performance. After a century and a half since the appearance of photography as a medium of expression, artists like Bolin manage to innovate by creating new ways for this medium.

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