Blending into graffiti-covered walls and flawlessly integrating into urban streets is just another day of work for 38-year-old artist Liu Bolin. Internationally acknowledged for his remarkable urban camouflage creations, Liu is simply known by many as 'The Invisible Man'.
Yet his messages are anything but invisible. 'The main focus and theme of my creations revolves around reflecting social problems in China,' Liu says.
'The main idea is to highlight and encourage reflection upon the problems our society turns a blind eye to,' he explains. 'As a life form, we're extremely vulnerable and susceptible to the influences of our external surroundings. The person in my work stands for someone who is helpless and alienated, someone who cannot independently construct his ideals and grasp his own destiny.
Liu concedes that at first he did not set out to become a full-time artist.
'In the beginning, I chose to study painting out of sheer enjoyment and pleasure. I was never really sure where this path would take me,' he says.
In 1991, Liu was admitted into the Shandong Art Institute. 'The artistic scene and atmosphere was very much alive and thriving at the time,' he recalls.