Hiding in Plain Sight

刘勃麟 (Liú Bólín), Hiding in Florence, Sala di Venere, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy, 2022. Courtesy of 刘勃麟 (Liú Bólín).

Visible Invisible

A visitor photographs an artwork entitled Blue Europe by Chinese artist 劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín), as a part of his solo exhibitionon “Visible Invisible” which will be on display at the Museum of Cultures (Mudec) in Milan, Italy from May 15 to September 15, 2019. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images.

Lost & Found

“Cooperate with Rero” (2015) © 劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín)

Elegy for Margaret I Darling of our hearts, drowning In the thick night of ultimate sea Which (indeed) surrounds us all, but where we Are crammed islands of flesh, wide With a few harvesting years, disowning The bitter black severing tide; Here in this room you are outside this room, Here in this body your eyes drift away, While the invisible vultures feed on Your life, and those who read the doom Of the ill-boding omens say Name of a disease which, like a villain, Seizes on the pastures of your flesh, Then gives you back some acres, soon again To set you on that rack of pain Where the skeleton cuts through you like a knife, And the weak eyes flinch with their hoping light Which, where we wait, blinds our still hoping sight. Until hope signs us to despair––what lives Seems what most kills––what holds back fate Seems itself fated––and the eyes that smile Mirror the mocking illness that contrives Moving away some miles To ricochet at one appointed date. Least of our world, yet you are most this world Today, when those who are well are those who hide In dreams painted by unfulfilled desire From hatred triumphing outside: And where the brave, who live and love, are hurled Through waters of a food shot through with fire; Where sailors’ eyes rolling on floors of seas Hold in their luminous darkening irises The memory of some lost still dancing girl, The possible attainable happy peace Of statued Europe with its pastures fertile, Dying, like a girl, of a doomed, hidden disease. So, to be honest, I must wear your death Next to my heart, where others wear their love. Indeed it is my love, my link with life My word of life being knowledge of such death. My dying word because of you can live, Crowned with your death, this life upon my breath. Stephen Spender

The Unforeseeable

劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín)
Photo © Annie Leibovitz

What I expected What I expected, was Thunder, fighting, Long struggles with men And climbing. After continual straining I should grow strong: Then the rocks would shake, And I rest long. What I had not foreseen Was the gradual day Weakening the will Leaking the brightness away, The lack of good to touch, The fading of body and soul ––Smoke before wind, Corrupt, unsubstantial. The wearing of Time, And the watching of cripples pass With limbs shaped like questions In their odd twist, The pulverous grief Melting the bones with pity, The sick falling from earth–– These, I could not foresee. Expecting always Some brightness to hold in trust, Some final innocence Exempt from dust, That, hanging solid, Would dangle through all, Like the created poem, Or faceted crystal. Stephen Spender

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

On the South Pier, at the Port of Catania, Sicily, Italy, it is parked in dry dock the first boat that in 2013 carried migrants from Africa to the coasts of Catania. Among them, there were six Egyptian children who, sick and exhausted from the boat trip, tragically drowned just a few meters from the shore of Lido Beach Green (Lido Verde). Chinese chameleon 劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín) wanted to merge his body with the wreck and its history for the first shot of his very recent “Migrants” exhibition, successfully held in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. Photo © 劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín)/Courtesy of Boxart Gallery, Verona.

Five lines

Five lines To overcome lies in the heart, in the streets, in the books from the lullabies of the mothers to the news report that the speaker reads, understanding, my love, what a great joy it is, to understand what is gone and what is on the way. Nâzım Hikmet

劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín) hiding in Germany / Magazine Rack
Photo: fratellowatches.com

Boyle-Breath

北京 (Běijīng), China: Artist 劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín) wears a vest holding 24 mobile phones during a live broadcast about air pollution in the city. Photo: Jason Lee/Reuters.

Cartesian doubt

Cum peteret seram media iam nocte matellam arguto madidus pollice Panaretus, Spoletina data est sed quam siccaverat ipse, nec fuerat soli tota lagona satis. Ille fide summa testae sua vina remensus reddidit oenophori pondera plena sui. Miraris, quantum biberat, cepisse lagonam? Desine mirari, Rufe: merum biberat. When Panaret, maudlin, with snap of the thumb, At midnight commanded the needful to come; A spoletime came, which himself had just drain’d: Nor had it sufficed that the flagon contain’d. With utmost good faith redecanting his store, He crown’d the vast vessel as high as before. Capacious, you wonder, the pot as the cask! This pure had imbided; which accounts for the task. La mezzanotte era già finita quando, ubriaco, Panareto schioccando le dita domandò un orinale. Gli fu presto portata una brocca spoletina da lui stesso tracannata, né tutta intera bastata gli era, ma lui fedelmente orinando giulivo in quel recipiente rimise il contenuto primitivo. Ti meraviglia che quella brocca tanto tenesse quanto aveva messo in bocca. O Rufo, non restare senza fiato, perché quel vino non fu certo annacquato.

Martial, Epigrams, Book 6, LXXXIX
English translation by James Elphinston
Italian translation by Franco Zagato

劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín), Hiding in the City No. 96 – Supermarket No. 3, 2011. Courtesy of 劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín).

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

就算暂时的幸福也好过永恒的痛苦。
Jiùsuàn zhànshí de xìngfú yě hǎoguò yǒnghéng de tòngkǔ.
Even temporary happiness is much better than permanent misery.

劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín), Hiding in the City – Ballon, 2012
Photo courtesy of the artist and the Klein Sun Gallery

A Matter of Principle

即使人人都反对，对的依然是对的；即使人人都赞成，错的依旧是错的。 Jíshǐ rén rén dōu fǎnduì, duì de yīrán shì duì de; jíshǐ rén rén dōu zànchéng, cuò de yījiù shì cuò de. Right is right even if everyone is against it. And wrong is wrong even if everyone is for it.

劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín), Target – Future, 2015
Photo courtesy of Boxart Gallery, Verona

After all, nobody’s perfect

我从不去后悔我做过的事，而是为那些我还没做过的事感到后悔。 Wǒ cóng bù qù hòuhuǐ wǒ zuòguò de shì, ér shì wèi nàxiē wǒ hái méi zuòguò de shì gǎndào hòuhuǐ. I do not regret the things I have done, but those I did not do.

劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín), Angels, 2010
Photo courtesy of NYUAD Art Gallery

Time Never Dies

作为一个学生，只要你还有东西要学习，这就是你人生的全部。 Zuòwéi yīgè xuéshēng, zhǐyào nǐ hái yǒu dōngxī yào xuéxí, zhè jiùshì nǐ rénshēng de quánbù. Be a student as long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life. 亨利·莱瑟姆·多尔蒂 (Henry Latham Doherty)

劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín), Hiding in the City No. 77 – Arena, 2008
Photo courtesy of Klein Sun Gallery

The Embedded Europe

永远别把沉默当成无知,把冷静当成接收,把仁慈当成软弱。 Yǒngyuǎn bié bǎ chénmò dàngchéng wúzhī, bǎ lěngjìng dàngchéng jiēshōu, bǎ réncí dàngchéng ruǎnruò. Never mistake silence for ignorance, calmness for acceptance, or kindness for weakness.

劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín), UE Flag, 2008

Bird’s Nest

没有什么比独立自由更可宝贵的了。
Méiyǒu shé me bǐ dúlì zìyóu gèng kě bǎoguì dele.
Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.

劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín) poses by the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in 北京 (Běijīng)
Photo: Eli Klein Gallery/Barcroft Media

Roman Holiday

劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín) | Paolina Bonaparte Borghese | Courtesy Boxart Gallery

La Liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty Leading the People)

© 劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín) | Hiding in the City | Paris | 10 | Liberty leading the people, 2013 | Edwynn Houk Gallery.

Cucullus non facit monachum

Artwork © 劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín)
Hiding in the City | Door God No. 1 | 2013

人不可貌相。
Rén bùkě màoxiàng.
Don’t judge people by appearance.

Fading Like a Flower

北京 (Běijīng), December 20, 2015. 刘勃麟 (Liú Bólín)’s latest work, titled “冬季” (“Dōngjì”) (“Winter Solstice”), draws much-needed attention to the issue of air pollution by using the thick smog to create stunning visuals, with human bodies fading into spindly trees and drab gray skies in the background. Photo: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters.

Dawn to Dusk in the Astonishing Secret Garden

Fisheye x Guerlain : La Petite Robe Noire
Artwork © 劉勃麟 (Liú Bólín)

努力

刘勃麟 (Liú Bólín), Hiding in the City – Balloon
Image courtesy of the artist and the Klein Sun Gallery

努力
Nǔlì
Striving