Culture Art

Liu Bolin: The Heroic Apparition at Scream Gallery

Liu Bolin: The Heroic Apparition at Scream Gallery | Exhibition review

Chinese art gets a rather predictable reception in the West, best summed up in the notion that things are terribly bad for them over there. There are a few mutterings of that kind in the press release for Liu Bolin’s show, but they do not do him justice. His work is only occasionally a Poignant Way of Conveying the Fears and Frustrations of Society in the Hands of a Strict and Oppressive Regime, but rather a plea, almost a self-deprecating celebration of human individuality and personality in spite of environment – though one must first consider how they are made and presented. 

Liu Bolin’s photographs are presented with one installation that is the visual remains of one of the photographic set-ups. He is painted all over to blend into his background. However, he is painted in situ by his assistants, in what must be a feat of great skill. The works were indeed originally conceived as performances.

Fair enough all that fears and frustrations stuff then, but what of the product? The photographs are glazed and Liu Bolin’s presence interrupts our viewing; he plays with surface, the viewer’s reaction and his complacency. Then we have not interaction with environment as interaction with image and viewing. The images cease to be solipsistic and become aggressive; more so when, as in one of these prints, there is not only Liu Bolin but four other painted figures present. The spaces are otherwise unoccupied – and so this movement into space changes the question from who are we to what are we?

Is his work painting? Self-portraiture? Intervention? An elaborate form of signature? Its visual play is more engaging that the usual glum homilies, and the installation is a spectacular coup. The press notes state that “the artist will be present” at the opening reception. One suspects this was a rather elaborate joke.

Stephen Powell
Photos: courtesy of Scream Gallery and Liu Bolin

Liu Bolin: The Heroic Apparition is at Scream Gallery until 9th May 2014. For further information visit the show’s website here.

More in Art

1880 THAT: Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader at Wellcome Collection

Christina Yang

José María Velasco: A View of Mexico at the National Gallery

James White

The Edwardians: Age of Elegance at The King’s Gallery

Constance A

Carracci Cartoons: Myths in the Making at the National Gallery

James White

Wellington’s Dutch Masterpieces at Apsley House

James White

Ed Atkins at Tate Britain

Christina Yang

Fragments of Folklore: A landmark exhibition reimagines tradition in contemporary Saudi Arabia

The editorial unit

Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style at the Design Museum

Constance A

Marina Abramovic: Healing Frequency at Moco Museum

Constance A