Page 117 - Via Condotti

The Chinese Liu Bolin, camouf age artist, arrives in Italy with an anthology of over seventy works.
Keep your eyes peeled to fully catch the visual surprise that art can give. In the specif c case, it is the Chinese creative
Liu Bolin working on his photographic series, synthesis of body art, performance, painting and photography. In order to
better appreciate the result of his work, is necessary to attend the his meticulous sessions of make-up and body painting
until he is visually but also intimately merged with the place that surrounds him. The result: to the photographic lens f rst,
and then to the human eye, his f gure appears so integrated with the panorama that it is not distinguished or almost: look
to believe! A sort of artist hunt is just what takes place with the shots on display: on one hand Italy, cradle of Western cul-
ture celebrated in the images against the backdrop of the Colosseum as the Duomo of Milan, and then the migrants, like
the fashion sets with the big brands (Moncler above all) passionate about his visionary camouf age; on the other hand,
China, the source of oriental knowledge where the artist - born in 1973 - grew up in the northern Shandong region, took
his f rst steps. It is 2005: the administration of Beijing orders to demolish the Suojia Village, a residence for artists, many
of whom are critical with the government. Liu Bolin is camouf aged with the ruins of his studio, he is photographed and
spread the photo giving the way to a silent and “transparent” protest. “I make myself invisible, but the social message of
my art is strong and clear: I put at the center what happens in the present, pushing the public to question the weight of
history as well as the consequences of progress”.

115