Liu Bolin

Media contacts:
Michelle Giacopuzzi: michelle.giacopuzzi@csun.edu
Carmen Ramos Chandler: carmen.chandler@csun.edu

Liu Bolin: Sociology of the Invisible Body

August 27– September 15, 2012 (Gallery closed Mon. Sept. 3)

Reception: Saturday, September 8, 4 – 7 pm
Gallery talk: Wednesday, September 5, 10 am

Chinese artist Liu Bolin's photographs and sculptures explore the interaction of art and society in contemporary China and the complex relationship between individuals and their environment. Works included in this exhibition focus on Liu's observation of and comment on the political, economic and social environment that has shaped the way Chinese people perceive themselves in a rapidly changing contemporary society. They also reveal the tension between individuals and society as a whole, a topic that resonates worldwide.

Starting as a silent protest against local authorities in 2005, Liu had himself painted to blend into the half-dismantled background. That inaugurated his performance series Urban Camouflage, later known as Hiding in the City. The inability of individuals to stop supposedly progressive but unwanted change is embodied in the still figure engulfed by his environment, thus launching his artistic persona, the famous "invisible man." This invisibility of the individual urges viewers to consider the factors that bring about such results and to rethink the position of individuals in a given time and space in any society. The artist has continued to explore the larger social environment that seems to work against individual choice and preference, in a sense, rendering human presence invisible.

A color catalog will accompany this exhibition.

Gallery hours are from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 8 p.m. on Thursday. For more information, call the Art Galleries at (818) 677-2156 or visit www.csun.edu/artgalleries.