The Invisible Man.

I was nearly stopped in my tracks when I stumbled across the art of Liu Bolin on wide open spaces. I immediately had to research more and found this great article on Mail Online of the UK.

Bolin is a Chinese artist whose work expresses his experience of feeling like an outsider in his own home. After graduating from school and finally finding his place as the practice of contemporary artists grew, Chinese officials began shutting down artists' studios in 2005. According to Bolin, "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."

Bolin's work is an exercise in patience. Most pieces will take up to 10 hours while he stands near his background as an assistant painstakingly paints him to match his background. He says that in many situations passersby won't even notice him standing there until he moves.

What is so striking to me is how quiet his images are while remaining so profound. How many people do we pass each day in our cities that aren't painted into the background, but we treat them as if they are invisible? Liu Bolin's work really does serve to "remind people what the community we live in really looks like, and what kind of problems exist."

Images from wide open spaces via Oddity Central and v1kram's posterous.