ALL CLEAR: The Chinese performance artist and photographer Liu Bolin is the art world’s version of “The Invisible Man,” but he won’t be so hard to see in the months ahead.
Annie Leibovitz’s semitransparent shots of him in Moncler’s spring ads are just the start of a hectic work schedule. In April, Bolin will have solo exhibitions at the Gallery Magda Danysz in Shanghai, and at the Galerie Paris-Beijing in Paris. There will also be a performance at Centre Georges Pompidou and another at Festival Portrait(s) in Vichy, France later this year.
Before those get under way, the artist will speak May 11 at the “Art of Tomorrow” conference at the W Doha Hotel & Residences in Qatar. The upcoming blitz is a switch for the artist whose “Hiding in the City” series features self portraits in which he camouflages himself by painting himself to blend into his landscapes. “It’s my way to convey all the anxiety I feel for human beings,” the artist has said of the practice.
Along with brands like Guerlain, Fred, Renault and Ford, Bolin said his first fashion-related project was to hide five well-known designers — Jean Paul Gaultier, Alber Elbaz, Angela Missoni and Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier
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