Ever Wanted To Simply Vanish? This French Artist Can Help [Videos]

Many of us have at some stage seriously wished we could simply vanish, hide from the daily stress of life. This French artist can help with his unusual camouflage technique.

Laurent La Gamba has been experimenting with what he calls “Moving Superficiality” for some time now. What he wants to portray is how we all live in an environment of consumerism and mass production and how proud we are of our purchases and accomplishments.

In his artist’s statement, La Gamba says that using his craft he can blend people into the scenery of their purchases because what people buy is not, of course, in any way unique. He makes the purchasers simply vanish into the product itself.

“How do people send signals to others about who they are in a society where consumerism and mass production are the norm? What people buy are very much transitional objects (as defined by D.W Winnicott, the psychoanalyst), a source of comfort and also a source of pride where they show both what they’ve bought and can afford and what good taste they have (that’s what they hope can be seen and why I show heads, the visible seat of thought!) and yet this act immediately blends them into the scenery because their unique car or fridge is of course one of so many…”

To do this, previously La Gamba has mastered the art of camouflage, making his subjects fade into fridges and produce shelves.

Using friends and family, he has created the perfect camouflage effect, as can be seen in the videos above and below. He explained his style of work to RT.

“These people [models] are just relatives. Sometimes I work with students. Sometimes I work with friends. If I work in the public place I use the people that are working in this place.”

La Gamba, 48, started his camouflage work back in 2002. He wanted to try something really challenging, where he would have to work very quickly to achieve the desired effect. At the time, he found this very challenging.

What he does is to pose his model in front of the car, fridge or scenery, then carefully paint them to match in perfectly. He has many scenarios to choose from, even including the shelves in a supermarket.

“The illusion of creating something that is really difficult to do technically is coming from my desire of trying to seduce the viewer.”

In another series, dubbed “Moving Superficiality,” La Gamba has been working with models and fancy cars. According to the artist, this project is probably one of the most difficult to do.

Just for sport – See if you can spot the camouflaged human in these videos by French artist Laurent la Gamba http://t.co/LsP1dJlsBV

— Robin Ingenthron (@WR3A) September 24, 2014

La Gamba has a studio up in the French Pyrenees and this is where he is working on his latest series. He told RT that he always wishes to push himself, making his work more challenging all the time in an effort to make his model simply vanish.

There is a range of fascinating photos and videos of the project of La Gamba’s own official website, but a few screengrabs and videos are included in this article.

During past projects, La Gamba visited the Whitney Museum of Art and “revisited” several American art history exhibits with his technique, including a self-portrait in front of Andy Warhol’s “Marilyn,” included above.

So, if you feel that you want to simply vanish from the everyday stress of life, get in touch with La Gamba. Maybe he can paint you out of your bad situation.

On the subject of color, the Inquisitr has recently reported on an online test where you can apparently find out just how many colors you can see.

[Images: Screengrabs from the videos of Laurent La Gamba]