Over the past several years, artist Liu Bolin has been creating a photo series, “Hiding in the City,” in which he becomes an invisible man of sorts.

Liu Bolin’s Creative Process

To prepare for these optical illusion photos, Liu finds the perfect, everyday background and photographs himself there. He works with a team of assistants to select the exact paint colors and note all the lines, curves, and shadows of the setting.

Then he and his team go to the site again, and he stands for three to four hours while his assistants painstakingly paint him to match each detail of the background. They work together through the process, taking photos, talking, matching the background, talking more.

When he seamlessly blends with the environment, he stands perfectly still, and they capture the image—his shape barely visible. (There is no computer retouching to these images!)

Liu did a number of photos in front of magazine racks around the world, like the one above. Watch this video to see Liu and team create the optical illusion for an image in front of a similar magazine rack.

His Invisible Protest

Liu Bolin got his inspiration in 2005. At that time Liu and over a hundred other artists had studios and homes in Suo Jia Cun, an established community. Then, suddenly, the Chinese government declared the community illegal. Within 12 hours of the government’s decision, bulldozers had destroyed the first buildings.

Liu’s Oh I See Moment: he was an invisible man to the government. So, in response, he started the photography series in which he blends into his surroundings until he is almost out of sight.

Liu explains, “I decided to melt into the environment. Some will say that I disappear into the background; I would say that it’s the environment that has taken a hold of me.”

How the Invisible Man Has Made His Mark

In time, Liu expanded his series. He took optical illusion photos in Italy and New York. He included others in his images, ranging from a family in front of the Chinese flag to fashion designers in the middle of their work. He even recently did an ad for Ford in which he painted cars to blend into their backgrounds and an album cover for Bon Jovi with the band painted into the background.

Ironically, it is Liu’s ability to become invisible that draws our attention. Now that you have seen some of his work, I’m sure you will want to see more from this talented man.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

$\"Optical$

Hiding in the City No. 71 – Bulldozer<\/em>, 2008 Photograph
Courtesy Eli Klein Fine Art, \u00a9 Liu Bolin<\/p><\/div>\n

A Layer of Paint Hides This Invisible Man<\/h2>\n
A photo of a bulldozer seems pretty unremarkable.<\/p>\n
What about a wall full of toys?<\/p>\n
$\"Optical$
Hiding in New York No. 7 – Made in China<\/em>, 2012 Photograph
Courtesy Eli Klein Fine Art, \u00a9 Liu Bolin<\/p><\/div>\n
Look again.<\/p>\n
Did you say, “Oh, I see!”<\/strong>?<\/p>\n
Over the past several years, artist Liu Bolin<\/a> has been creating a photo series<\/a>, “Hiding in the City,” in which he becomes an invisible man of sorts.<\/p>\n
Liu Bolin’s Creative Process<\/h4>\n
To prepare for these optical illusion photos, Liu finds the perfect, everyday background and\u00a0photographs himself there. He works with a team of assistants to select the exact paint colors and note all the lines, curves, and shadows of the setting.<\/p>\n
Then he and his team go to the site again, and he stands for three to four hours while his assistants painstakingly paint him to match each detail of the background. They work together through the process, taking photos, talking, matching the background, talking more.<\/p>\n
When he\u00a0seamlessly\u00a0blends with the\u00a0environment, he stands perfectly still, and they capture the image—his shape barely visible. (There is no computer retouching to these images!)<\/p>\n
$\"Optical$
Hiding in the City – Beijing Magazine Rack<\/em>, 2011 Photograph
Courtesy Eli Klein Fine Art, \u00a9 Liu Bolin<\/p><\/div>\n
Liu did a number of photos in front of magazine racks around the world, like the one above. Watch this video to see Liu and team create the optical illusion for an image in front of a similar magazine rack.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/vimeo.com\/59981487<\/p>\n
If the video does not display, watch it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
His Invisible Protest<\/h4>\n
Liu Bolin got his inspiration in 2005. At that time Liu and over a hundred other artists had studios and homes in Suo Jia Cun, an established community. Then, suddenly, the Chinese government declared the community illegal. Within 12 hours of the government’s decision, bulldozers had destroyed the first buildings.<\/p>\n
Liu’s\u00a0Oh I See Moment:\u00a0<\/strong>he was an invisible man to the government. So, in response, he started the photography series in which he blends into his surroundings until he is almost out of sight.<\/p>\n
Liu explains,\u00a0“I decided to melt into the environment. \u00a0Some will say that I disappear into the background; I would say that it’s the environment that has taken a hold of me.”<\/p>\n
$\"Optical$
Hiding in the City – Panda<\/em>, 2011 Photograph
Courtesy Eli Klein Fine Art, \u00a9 Liu Bolin<\/p><\/div>\n
How the Invisible Man Has\u00a0Made His Mark<\/strong><\/h4>\nIn time, Liu expanded his series. He took optical illusion photos in Italy and New York. He included others in his images, ranging from a family in front of the Chinese flag to fashion designers in the middle of their work. He even recently did an ad for Ford<\/a> in which he painted cars to blend into their backgrounds and an album cover for Bon Jovi<\/a>\u00a0with the band painted into the background.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
Ironically, it is Liu’s ability to become invisible that draws our attention. Now that you have seen some of his work, I’m sure you will want to see more from this talented man.<\/p>\n
He may be out of sight, but he is not out of mind!<\/p>\n
Comment<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>on this post below, or inspire insight with your own\u00a0OIC Moment\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,171],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-china-mappoints","category-photography-creative"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40575,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8001\/revisions\/40575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

A Layer of Paint Hides This Invisible Man

Liu Bolin’s Creative Process

His Invisible Protest

How the Invisible Man Has Made His Mark