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Where's Liu Bolin? Art's 'invisible man' – as you've never seen him before

Rob Sharp,Arts Correspondent
Saturday 20 November 2010 01:00 GMT
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Unnerving yet intriguing, bizarre yet inspirational, Chinese artist Liu Bolin separates his art by blending his body into the background. But his remarkable feat of camouflage is anything but effortless.

Liu spends 10 hours with an assistant to transform himself so that he almost disappears into his surroundings, in this case all but vanishing in Venice, on the Great Wall of China, in a supermarket aisle and in front of a wall defaced by graffiti. Often people passing by are unaware of his presence until he suddenly moves to break the illusion.

Liu describes his work as a commentary on his place in society, saying that he is "undervalued" in his home country. "After graduating from school I couldn't find suitable work and I felt there was no place for me in society," he said.

"I experienced the dark side of society, without social relations, and had a feeling that no one cared about me."

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