Liu Bolin: The Real Life Invisible Man

Meet Liu Bolin, the real-life Invisible Man from China, a performance and concealment artist with the ability to disappear in any surroundings. Born in 1973 in Shandong and a graduate of Shandong Art College and Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts, Liu Bolin became popular for his mastery at the cool art of camouflaging himself against virtually any background with his masterful painting techniques.

One single 3D painting of his takes up to 10 hours to prepare – Liu uses himself as a blank canvas, and with a little help from an assistant, he paints his body to merge as seamlessly as possible with what is behind him by using forced perspective. The resulting art installations and optical illusions are incredible – sometimes passers-by don’t even realize he is around until he moves.

While his invisibility artworks are really mind-blowing, he’s here with a message: “The situation for modern artists and political art in China is very difficult and the forced removal of the artist’s studio is in fact my direct inspiration of this series of photographs, Hiding In The City…I am standing, but there is a silent protest, the protest against the environment for the survival, the protest against the state and social issues.”

So, let’s take a look at 20 amazing Liu Bolin’s camouflage body art photos. We’d love to have Liu’s magical camouflage paint or even just half of his painting skills. But if you’d like to have a printable version of his unique artworks, you can find them here. (Sources: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6)