Moscow Liu Bolin exhibition

The Ekaterina Cultural Foundation presents an exhibition of Chinese artist Liu Bolin’s “Hiding in the city” from 13 March to 13 May,  as part of Moscow’s International Festival Photobiennale 2012. In the frames of the 9-th Moscow International Festival “Photobiennale-2012” MAMM, Ekaterina Cultural Foundation and Paris-Beijing Gallery present the exhibition of works by Liu Bolin ? famous Chinese photographer, well known under the pseudonym “The Invisible Man”. Liu Bolin was born in 1973 in Shandong province. In 1995 he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, in 2001 received his master’s degree at the Central Academy of Fine Arts majoring in sculpture. He achieved world-wide acclaim for his artistic response to the Chinese government’s destruction of the Beijing artist village Suo Jia Cun. Popularly known as “The Invisible Man”, Bolin’s photographs place him in urban environments painted from head to toe so as to blend chameleon-like into the background. Bolin’s work serves as a criticism of the Chinese Communist government’s artistic repression and the role of the artist in contemporary China. Often at loggerheads with the government he criticises, Bolin has achieved international renown for his provocative criticisms of both capitalism and communism. Liu Bolin is the bright representative of the “New Art”, appeared as a result of the changes, which took place in the former socialist countries. Liberalization, modernization, democratization has affected all aspects of life in modern Chinese society. Liu Bolin’s art formed under the influence of the bipolar Chinese cultural model in which traditions and foreign impact, old and new are in continuous interaction and contradiction. Dynamically-changing surrounding reality creates the need for the ability to change colour under the surrounding reality like chameleon. Mimicry ? the property that is sometimes necessary to modern average person to minimize the discomfort of being in the society. The “Urbanistic Camouflage” series by the author is dedicated to a person devoid such individuality, which could make him noticeable in crowd. It is human being in such, his body is motionless and has no expression, eyes closed as if he looked into himself introspecting.