LIU BOLIN 2019

Liu Bolin, the artist who has made invisibility his hallmark, chooses the Caravaggio room for his performance: again a photographic self-portrait where by camouflaging himself, he blends into the environment and with the Saint Jerome by Merisi.

On the occasion of the celebrations for the Chinese New Year in Rome, after a seven-year absence, Bolin is back again at the Galleria Borghese, an emblem of Italian artistic heritage that has captured his interest since 2008.

The exhibition was preceded by a careful study of the room’s space, the colours and perspectives, so that the artist could carefully define his position. The chosen objective among the six works by Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, exhibited in the museum’s room, is the Saint Jerome, an oil painting on canvas from the early seventeenth century, or rather, a particular corner of the painting.

The painting was probably made for Scipione Borghese, perhaps in thanks for the help received from him by the artist, embroiled in serious legal problems. Scipione used every means to obtain works by the great artist and because of his determination as a collector, the gallery owns a greater number of works by Caravaggio than any other museum, collected in this room.

In an experience that gradually unfolds in front of numerous spectators, Bolin and his assistants proceed to paint his clothing and finally his face with camouflage, to make him disappear, absorbed by the environment, where his body becomes an object among other objects.

The event was coordinated together with the technical-artistic staff of the Boxart Art Gallery.