Respect Authority

Every once and a while something comes along that’s so creative, so out-of-the-box, yet so incredibly obvious that it makes you feel like a real worthless piece of shit for not thinking of it first. Sorry kids, but I’m afraid that’s just what it feels like to appreciate art.

I’d like to introduce you to Liu Bolin — an insane man and visionary who is currently freaking me out. By now, we’ve all seen plenty of photographers goofing around with long shutters to produce what looks like shots of “ghosts.” And at a first glance, that’s almost what the photographs of Liu Bolin’s art look like. But like his art, it’ll take more than a quick glance to truly appreciate the effort and thought that went into each piece. I mean, my god, Liu Bolin could sneak up on a real fucking ghost.

The man is as much a master of disguise and camouflage as he is an artist. There’s no trick photography or digital editing going on here; in fact, his craft is both simpler and infinitely more complicated than that. Bolin literally paints himself to look exactly like the scene he is in. That’s “all” there is to it. Painstaking, remarkable, vaguely creepy.

If you were a sucker for Magic Eyes back in the day, more retinal delights await beyond the jump. Read More ›