Scalone d'Onore, Reggia di Caserta, 2017
Liu Bolin For years he has blended in with the monuments and destinations of the world that he visits. Thus, he has earned the nickname of Invisible Man that gives name to the exhibition that from June 12 we can enjoy at the Palacio de Gaviria (** Madrid **). So is hindsight The Invisible Man .
Camouflaged, this is how Bolin seeks to represent reality , as a present entity, even vigilant, but not a protagonist.
Bolin's work can lead us to reflect on the presence of cameras in monuments, buildings, works of art... in our day-to-day travel. A few months ago we put ourselves in the center of the target to weigh the use of cameras in certain places, and the visitor's attitude towards it.
Colosseo No. 2, Rome, 2017
Bolin doesn't take selfies, he doesn't smile, he doesn't change the scene with his presence. Quite the contrary. Bolin is. And he lets fate wrap him up, with its beauty (the case of the Roman Colosseum), its daily life (like when he takes pictures in supermarkets) or with his decay (his portraits of him made among ruins or garbage).
And he does it alone: he and the environment. There is nothing else. we are where we are (or we should be). Perhaps you want us to reflect on the places we step on beyond taking the picture and running to the next 'check' of the trip? Perhaps his performance art is simply a way of criticizing the overexposure of the 'me'?
From Arthemisia, producer of major art exhibitions in charge of The Invisible Man (in collaboration with the Boxart Gallery in Verona), they explain that "Bolin, who works on his works with various disciplines —painting, installation and photography—, uses the idea of camouflage to talk about social issues that affect the daily lives of human beings . It is a silent protest, 'transparent', which invites us to think about identity, about what we consume and what we are , as well as the problems that surround us. His works serve as a means to transmit apparently hidden messages that invite the viewer to reflect ".
Temple of Apollo, Pompei, 2012
Be that as it may, whatever Liu Bolin's photographs evoke, we can say that many of his snapshots try to denounce social situations, such as the series in which he appears surrounded by sub-Saharan immigrants.
Everyone, absolutely everyone, is confused with the beach, with the sand, with the boats, with the sea and with the small boats . They are nobody, nobody sees them, they don't show themselves or come to the forefront of the photo, right? This is how the Invisible Man denounces the real invisible men (and women and children...).
This series, called _ Migrants _, It will also be present at the Gaviria Palace until September 15 of this year. The exhibition will be divided into seven sections and will feature some 70 works. Each one of these sections will present various themes dealt with by Bolin: his first works ( Hiding in the City ), his works on migration, his works in Italian cities or even some advertising campaigns.
Memory Day, 2015
Address: Gaviria Palace See map