Mighty Optical Illusions » Liu Bolin

Ever Wondered How Liu Manages to Disappear? Here’s How!

Vurdlak — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:50:55 +0000

Seems we have caught Liu off-guard in those rare moments he wasn’t paying too much attention. In this shocking, revealing photos you will see Liu Bolin as an ordinary man he really is – for example: smiling as he prepares to demonstrate another camouflage art installation, where he’s gonna blend in with all sorts of vegetables displayed on the shelves at a supermarket in Beijing. More important, it seems we have finally revealed his “so called” disappearing act, as well as learned how Liu actually looks like in person when he is not hiding from us. Check the below exclusive evidence of assistants assisting Liu in his witchcraft! Still, there is some good left in Liu – did you know he has started his optical illusion artworks of becoming ‘invisible’ more than six years ago, while describing them as a form of political protest and his way of ‘hiding from the authorities‘?

Artist Liu Bolin smiles as he prepares to demonstrate an art installation by blending in with vegetables displayed on the shelves at a supermarket in Beijing November 10, 2011. Liu, also known as the Vanishing Artist, started practising being invisible by means of optical illusions more than six years ago.

You’ve probably seen most of Liu’s camouflage installations, but just in case you missed some – click on the image below and browse our #Liu Bolin archive:

Liu Bolin Has Disappeared!

Jill Harness — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:09:30 +0000

We’ve featured lots of Liu Bolin’s camouflage paintings before, but that’s just because his talent is so incredibly impressive! I believe there is no reason to ever stop posting such amazing illusory installments when they come out. In my own opinion, some of Liu’s best works include tractor image, dragon series and the camouflage cans illusion because in all of these pictures, Liu appears practically invisible to untrained eye. No matter which of his works are your favorite though, it’s hard to deny the skill necessary to produce these. Specially once you get the chance to glaze through his newest series:

Which one’s your favorite? Do you ever have a hard time finding the person in the pictures?

The Invisible Man: Dragon Series

Vurdlak — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:40:32 +0000

Thanks to Andreas P. now we have whole new series of Liu Bolin and his “Invisible Man” – Dragon Series installation to showcase. If you lived under the rock for the past year or so, you missed some incredible camouflage body-paintings from mentioned artist. As we already stated once – Liu Bolin, (a master of camouflage) hopes to portray the richness of Chinese culture and history through his work. He achieved some pretty unbelievable results with this one, if you ask me…

You’ve probably seen most of Liu’s camouflage installations, but just in case you missed some – click on the image below and browse our #Liu Bolin archive:

Camouflage Cans by Liu Bolin

Vurdlak — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:17:36 +0000

If I was asked to think of a single artist who has truly mastered his profession, I surely would’ve think of Liu Bolin. There’s no need to repeat everything that has already been said about this true genius, rather be sure to check #Liu Bolin tag for little bit of history in the making. This time Joey Tillman discovered a new piece by Liu, featured by The Telegraph. It seems Liu even beat himself this time. I can’t seem to realize how you do this kind of camouflage solely using your bare hands and bucket full of paint!? See for yourself!

Liu Bolin’s Brick Wall Camouflage

Vurdlak — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:40:49 +0000

“Camouflage myself as a brick wall?! Sure, I could done that. No problem!” This is exactly what Liu Bolin thought to himself when this latest idea came to his mind. Check out the outcome of Liu’s newest camouflage set. At least it’s new for us; am not really positive when these photos were actually taken. Anywayz, try and spot Liu in each of the photos presented. Which one is the best, and which one do you think hasn’t turned out so nicely? Majority decides!

All I Need is a Bucket Full of Paint

Vurdlak — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:42:13 +0000

Can you spot a camouflaged persona in the first photo below? If you’re heaving trouble, don’t think less of yourself – after all, it is Liu Bolin we’re talking about here. Those of you who missed it, Liu is more known as an Invisible Man, which you can see in our archives if you follow the Liu Bolin tag. This artist has clearly mastered the body-paint camouflage technique, moreover it’s obvious he has taken it further, onto a next level. You can follow the underlined words in this text, and they will bring you to dozen of previous camouflage examples. Which one was the best? In my opinion The Tractor one beats them all! Stay tuned for more photos of Liu Bolin hiding himself…soon!

China’s “Invisible Man” to Wow Paris

Vurdlak — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:36:49 +0000

Consider this post as an attachment/update to previous Liu Bolin series. By now, we all know Liu’s incredible talent to camouflage himself. In the previous sets we’ve seen him in focus, but this is the first photo I found where Liu is photographed from a greater distance. It’s almost impossible to notice him. Check out the gallery beneath for additional sessions Liu participated in. The artist dubbed the “invisible man” is bringing his mind-bending pieces back to Europe. Liu will exhibit his unique photographs, in which he paints himself so as to “disappear” into his surroundings, at the YU Gallery in Paris in October. Liu, 36, has been known to spend up to 10 painstaking hours at each location — adding fine detail to his entire body until he is virtually undetectable. The chameleon experienced resistance from his own government, and in 2005 his Beijing studio was forcibly shut down over his political works.

We all know Liu's incredible talent for camouflage. It is almost impossible to spot him from such a distance.

Some of the Liu Bolin’s camouflages you might have missed:

The Invisible Man: Liu Bolin

Vurdlak — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:39:41 +0000

Probably you read me by now… As hard as I force myself to put new illusion each day (mostly because of the widget’s name “Optical Illusion of The Day“), you have to take into account I’m still on my vacation. Thus in reality, new post is written up every 1.5 to 2 days. I hope you’ll live this through for few more days before I return home. Anyhow, today I’m giving you this monster gallery of Liu Bolin’s art installations. This month, one year ago I posted 9 photos of Liu Bolin’s incredible camouflage artwork. It appears that in the meantime Liu was very active, so today I bring you 10 new photos of his disappearing attempts. I know how some of you don’t prefer our galleries, but trust me – this is the best way to bring page-load time to the minimum, and lower the cost of our bandwidth (more pages, more ad impressions). Please reply which camouflage was your favorite!

Liu Bolin is able to blend into any surroundings - no matter how complicated they might be!

Liu Bolin’s Camouflage-artwork Gallery

Camouflage Art by Liu Bolin

Vurdlak — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:21:00 +0000

Jessica sent me an email recently, explaining illusions she found: “I was browsing some internet weblogs, when I came across an interesting body paintings done by Liu Bolin of Beijing. I find it has in interesting message behind it.” When I read Jessica’s email, I quickly checked her submission, and boy, was I amazed. This surely has to be one of the best examples of urban camouflage. I have attached her submitted photos, and you can see all ten of them if you continue inside this article.

The artist, Liu Bolin is a young Beijing based artist who has exhibited primarily in China until now. Recently, he finished up a show at Eli Klein fine art in New York showcasing a variety of his pieces including some form the series ‘camouflage’. The collection is an exploration of human nature and animal instincts which features Chinese citizens painted to blend into their surroundings. The subjects are covered head to toe in paint, camouflaging themselves in front of the Chinese flag, a billboard or downtown Beijing. Last three photos greatly remind of Invisible Cloak, we already covered.