This week is a somewhat unusual. My friends from Germany are visiting and they keep me wonderfully busy. This means 2 things. First, blogging and stitching time is sparse and I miss that. Next week, I’ll resume as normal. Second, I’m paying attention to things usually taken for granted.
My visitor’s curiosity inspires me to look at my surroundings in a fresh new way. Going for walks and visiting places feels exciting. I was thinking of how many times I overlook what’s right before my eyes, and one artist came to mind: Liu Bolin.
Inspired by how some animals can blend into their environment, Liu Bolin uses the principles of camouflage to create his art. His work is an expression of his concern of the state of China and it’s lack of recognition of the individual. He was affected by the actions of the Chinese government when the art village Suojiacun was demolished, for the “modernization effort” and in the process, Liu Bolin’s home was destroyed.
None of the images here are photo-shopped. Instead he takes hours to prepare the paint and careful application to blend himself into the surroundings. Unseen and ignored. Invisible. Overlooked.
See, what I mean?
Or as George Orwell said:
“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”
And curiosity.
For more pictures of Liu Bolin: Telegraph UK
wow, that's awesome! it literally took me a few seconds to see the person in the last photo.
ps. I’m giving away a hand knit scarf, stop by and enter! Good luck!!
http://antikamoda.blogspot.com/2010/10/giveaway-clio-hand-knit-scarf.html
It's amazing what that artist does! I admire the courage of people in societies like China that express their feelings about their government. And specially when it is done in such an amazing way as Lui Bolin does.
It took me even more than a few seconds to see the person in the last photo.
Thanks for sharing!
What a great post. Thank you for introducing this inspiring artist to me.
Well stated. Remarkable art.
What intriguing, powerful images – they certainly caught me unawares! I had never heard of him before, but went to see an exhibition in London’s Tate Modern the other day by another Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei (http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unileverseries2010/default.shtm). His installation consists of one hundred million porcelain handcrafted sunflower seeds, symbolising (or so an article said he said) the people of China. Some see in those millions of seeds the people whose individuality has been suppressed, the people who haven’t flowered, but at the same time you could see them as symbols of hope, those individually formed and painted seeds that contain a grain of life. At first it is just this great big grey see of pebbles, but when you come closer you can see that they are tiny individual pieces, all carefully made, painted one by one. Beautiful, and again, very powerful.
That was amazing. It seems as if its an optical illusion but then again.. its very different.