"Hiding In New York No. 2 - Kenny Scharf Mural" by Liu Bolin

About This Piece

Liu Bolin spent hours painting his body to disappear into Kenny Scharf's Bowery mural. The mural is one of New York's most recognizable walls, a dense explosion of cartoon figures and acid color. Bolin is somewhere inside it.

Hiding in the City No. 2 (Kenny Scharf Mural) is part of Bolin's ongoing "Hiding in the City" series, which began in Beijing in 2005 after authorities demolished his studio. The series has since taken him across the world, placing his camouflaged body against power stations, supermarket shelves, and now the walls of lower Manhattan. Each work is executed by hand, photographed in a single take, with no post-production.

The choice of Scharf's Bowery mural is specific. Scharf's work is maximalist and exuberant, pure American pop abundance. Bolin's method is its opposite: labor-intensive, quiet, politically rooted. The two languages collide on the same surface, and the figure dissolves into the seam between them. The Bowery itself carries weight as the former nerve center of New York's downtown art scene, a street that has absorbed generations of cultural change.

Bolin has exhibited at Galerie Paris-Beijing, shown internationally, and built a strong secondary market presence at major auction houses. Works from the "Hiding in the City" series are among his most sought after.

Hiding in the City No. 2 is available now. Inquire for condition report, provenance, and pricing.