We really hope you are enjoying your holidays and are all set to celebrate Christmas. Whereas for us, holidays are yet to start, such is the life of a blogger.

Coming to the Art post of the week, its related to something which we all have wished for in life, at least at some stage, to become invisible and blend with the surroundings. Life would be so much simpler then.

Dutch artist Desiree Palmen makes the art of invisibility look really simple, although it involves lot of work and attention to detail. She paints people to camouflage them and they literally disappear against the background because its done so well. She manages to create an illusion of invisibility.

Palmen got the idea for this unique form of art from the increasing use of surveillance cameras. We have written about how CCTV cameras intrude an individuals’s space, and Palmen’s thoughts are on similar lines. In the image below, the person totally blends with the bookshelf. She said, “I’d like people to consider what it means to let the government control our daily lives. When we are controlled we hand over our individual responsibilities to the state. I wanted to make a suit for the non-criminal citizen whose house is being watched 24 hours by street surveillance cameras.”
So through her art she conveys the message that instead of being watched 24/7 on CCTV cameras, it would be a good idea for the person to dissolve into their surroundings and disappear. Palmen conveys her message brilliantly. First she photographs the location or a particular spot. Then she hand paints the camouflage on cotton suits with acrylic paints, painstakingly matching it to the chosen background, the exact colour, texture, contrast etc.

Following this either she or a model pose in the suit at the original place and a perfect shot has to be taken, otherwise it ruins the purpose of creating such an art piece. Her work is regularly displayed on the streets of Jerusalem, Rotterdam and Berlin. This takes Palmen hours to complete, its so meticulously done. I wouldn’t mind a suit like that to catch people off guard:)
Image Source:

The Art of Invisibility

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Tags: Desiree Palmen, Paintings