37-year-old artist Liu Bolin, from Shandong, China camouflages himself into the environment.
Hiding in the City No. 14- Er Guo White Wine Factory, 2006
Hiding in the City No. 91- Great Wall, 2010
The talented Liu Bolin says his art is a protest against the actions of the Government, who shut down his art studio in 2005 and persecutes artists. It’s about not fitting into modern society. The government had stipulated that it didn't want artists gathering and working together. Despite these problems with the authorities, Liu’s works are appreciated internationally.
Liu said he wanted to show how city surroundings affected people living in them.
He added that the inspiration behind his work was a sense of not fitting in to modern society and was a silent protest against the persecution of artists.
Hiding in the City No. 71- Bulldozer, 2008
Hiding in the City - Dragon Series, No. 4 of 10 panels, 2010
Hiding in the City No. 31- Holding Democratic Elections By Law, 2006
In an interview with the Daily Mail he said: 'Some people call me the invisible man, but for me it's what is not seen in a picture which is really what tells the story.
'After graduating from school I couldn't find suitable work and I felt there was no place for me in society.
'I experienced the dark side of society, without social relations, and had a feeling that no one cared about me, I felt myself unnecessary in this world.
'From that time, my attitude turned from dependence into revolting against the system.'
Liu said he was further pushed on with his work when the Chinese authorities shut down his art studio in Beijing in 2005.
He said: 'At that time, contemporary art was in quick development in Beijing, but the government decided it did not want artists like us to gather and live together.
'Also many exhibitions were forced to close.
'The situation for artists 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.'
Hiding in the City No. 16 & 17 People's Policeman, 2006
Teatro alla Scala, 2010
Hiding in the City No. 93- Supermarket No. 2, 2010
Liu begins by choosing the background location. Then he stands in position as the blank canvas for up to 10 hours as his helpers, armed with paintbrushes make him disappear into the surrounding landscape.
'There are many people who like my work I think because my work has a quiet strength, in the photographs.
'I am standing, but there is a silent protest, the protest against the environment for the survival, the protest against the state.
'I wanted to photograph the reality of scenes of China's development today.
'My work is a kind of reminder, to remind people what the community we live in really looks like, and what kind of problems exist.'
Hiding in the City No. 85, 2009
Liu Bolin has a huge portfolio of amazing work, in fact I had difficulty in limiting the amount of photos in this post to ten. If you would like to see the full portfolio of his work, you can find it here. www.elikleinfineart.com
Check out the video to see how the photo above was created.
A while back while visiting Jan Johnsen landscape gardening blog 'Serenity In The Garden' (a blog I highly recommend checking out if you don't know it already) I saw this photo (derectally above ↑) and at first glance, thought it was a piece by Andy Goldsworthy. I quickly discovered that this fabulous piece of stone art was not the work of Goldsworthy but of Vermont Stonemason/ Artist Thea Alvin.
Thea has been a professional stone mason for 25 years, and uses the dry stone stacking techniques learned from master masons around the world to create sculptures and natural landscape installations. She admits to always being a bit of a 'tomboy', apparently (in her own words) "When other little girls were playing with dolls... I was eating my 15 pounds of dirt."
Thea wants to travel the world, leaving works of stone art behind her, and to date, she is doing a pretty good job of that. Besides creating works of art all over North America, she as also created works in England, France, Italy, Canada and while cycling around China she managed to find the time to build ten arches from bricks, tiles, slate and marble.
I believe that my hands are smarter than I am, and that they operate on their own, and bring me along for the adventure, and to take notes about what we did together while we were there.
Besides creating works of stone art, Thea is also an instructor at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, Vermont, where she is running courses in 'The Art of Stone' and 'Masonry Restoration'. She is also in the process of writing a book.
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In my last post I talked about 'Stone Balancing' above is Thea's take on the art of stone balancing.
Thea Alvin has a huge and impressive portfolio of work, check out the rest of her work on her website www.myearthwork.com.
All photos in this post are from Thea's website, A big thanks to her for her kind permission to use them for this post.
The first time I saw this photo I really didn't know. I came across this photo a while back, it was posted on the web somewhere by someone, and a lot of the comments underneath it branded it a fake and put it down to photoshop trickery, as surely balancing stones like this is impossible?
Well I wanted to believe it was real, but also needed some convincing. It was only after finding the creator of the photo Bill Dan and saw one of his You tube videos of him at work that it all became clear.
Bill Dan spends much of his time on the waterfront shoreline of San Francisco Bay, which offers ample opportunities for rock balancing. Large quantities of erosion control material called "stone riprap" have been placed to prevent storm and tidal damage. The perfect place for Bill to practice and demonstrate the amazing possibilities in the interactions between rock and gravity.
It is here that Bill developed, practiced, and continues to share the delightful, astonishing, and even inspirational sculptures he constructs with the varied forms and shapes available to him at the water's edge.
Check out this video of Bill at work to see it for yourself
A little closer to home, artist Adrian Gray practices the art of stone balancing along one of the most famous and beautiful coastlines in the UK, the Jurasssic Coastline of Dorset.
Adrian also combines the art of stone balancing with the art of photography, creating enchanting photo prints for people to purchase from his website.
As if the stone sculptures were not amazing enough, Adrian also brings various moods in his prints, by incorporating things like movement and lighting.
All the stones in these pictures are balanced, strictly without the aid of adhesive, pins or computer manipulation. They remain in place through the natural force of gravity and friction. ‘Nature’s glue’ sustains them in these seemingly impossible positions and it is the capricious natural forces of wind or waves that returns them to obscurity amongst their fellow boulders.
Ever since my art teacher in school handed me a book depicting this picture by M. C. Escher, and a mirror ball, and told me to get busy, I have been a huge fan of his work. He is by far my favourite graphic artist of all time.
The plant kingdom is a source of inspiration for all plant and garden lovers, and for UK artist Ruth Moilliet this is also very much the case, as it is very evident in her sculptures.
Eryngium
The beauty of Ruth’s sculptures is that they highlight the amazing floral architecture that excises all around us, which is so too often over looked.
Alliums
In Ruth’s personal statement she describes how “In my work I reflect a childhood dream to be able to shrink in size, like ‘Alice’, to enable me to enter a plant’s elaborate structure and explore the floral architecture. The enlarged scale that I use indicates this desire, to be at one with the object of my study, to be engulfed in a flower.”
Dandelion Parachute
She also explains why the plant kingdom is such an inspiration for her,
“An initial response to a flower is that it is a delicate and beautiful object, something that can be picked or crushed. This may be true of an individual bloom but a plants continued cycle and relentless growth makes them the longest surviving organism on the planet.”
Passiflora
She studies and works with the forms that she finds within a particular plant or flower, examining a specimen in detail, even dissecting it if necessary. By doing this she discovers what is often overlooked in the everyday, the remarkable forms and intricacies of plant life.
Allium Scubertii
Echinop
Cardoon Parachutes
Spanish moss
Seedheads
Photos and information from Ruth Moilliet website www.ruthmoilliet.com/ check it out to see more fantastic examples of her work.
