BEIJING — As Beijing disappeared into the heavy smog shrouding¹ the region in recent days, an artist covered seven models with body paint until they, too, faded against a desolate² grove³ of trees on the eastern outskirts⁴ of the city.

北京——随着最近几日北京被浓重的雾霾笼罩，一名艺术家在北京东部郊区，对七名模特进行身体彩绘伪装，直至他们与背后的荒凉树林融为一体。

“Instead of passively disappearing, I’d rather actively⁵ make people disappear to express my attitude,” said the artist, Liu Bolin, who has been called the “Invisible Man” for blending into his surroundings by meticulously⁶ applying paint to his body.

“与其被动消失，我更愿意主动使人消失，从而表达我的态度，”艺术家刘勃麟说。因为善于通过仔细地在身上进行彩绘，将自身融入周围环境，他被称为“隐形人”。

“I’m using this active disappearance⁷ to voice my protest,” he said in an interview about his latest work, “Winter Solstice.”

“我通过这种主动的消失，来表达抗议，”他在最近接受采访，谈到最新作品《冬至》时说道。

Last year, he made four rows of people disappear against a photograph of Tiananmen Gate, which was grayed by smog. This time, Mr. Liu said his new work was inspired by the red alerts issued this month in Beijing for hazardous⁸ levels of air pollution.

去年，他对四排人进行彩绘伪装，使他们融入了背景中被雾霾笼罩的天安门的照片。刘勃麟表示，这一次，作品的灵感来自北京因空气污染达到有害程度，而发布的红色预警。

On Saturday, Beijing issued its second-ever red alert, the highest level of a four-tier warning system, effective through Tuesday. It came only a week after its first one, even though the capital has been plagued by heavy smog for years. By Wednesday, 10 cities in China had issued red alerts, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

上周六，北京发布了有史以来的第二次红色预警——四个预警级别中的最高级别，此次预警持续到周二。而在一周之前，北京才刚刚发布首次红色预警，尽管北京多年来一直受到严重雾霾的困扰。官方通讯社新华社报道，截至周三，中国已有十座城市发布红色预警。

Mr. Liu decided⁹ to name his new work “Winter Solstice” because it was carried out on Sunday, two days before the winter solstice, an important festival in the traditional Chinese calendar.

刘勃麟决定将新作品命名为《冬至》，因为该作品是在周日，也就是冬至的两天之前创作的，冬至在中国是一个重要的节气。

The seven models, all modern dancers, posed for photographs and then danced for a video, Mr. Liu said.

这七名模特都是现代舞者，他们先摆好姿势拍照，然后又拍摄了一段舞蹈视频，刘勃麟说。

“These are the movements people instinctively¹⁰ make when their lives are suppressed,” he said of the dance moves, adding that this was the first time he had portrayed¹¹ his disappearing subjects in motion.

他形容其中的舞姿时说，“这些动作是人们在生活受到压制时，本能做出的动作。”他还表示，这是他首次让隐形人动起来。

The work is a continuation of the political and social commentary often found in Mr. Liu’s works. He has staged disappearances¹² into backdrops that have included the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, a wall painted with Communist Party slogans, a portrait of Mao and a police officer to reflect ordinary Chinese people’s sense of invisibility in a fast-changing economy.

该作品延续了刘勃麟一贯以来的政治及社会评论风格。他曾融于长城、天坛、涂有共产党口号的墙壁、毛泽东及一名警察的画像等背景之中，以此体现普通中国民众隐形于快速变化的经济之中的感觉。

Mr. Liu, 42, first went invisible in 2006. When Suo Jia Cun, an artists’ village in suburban¹³ Beijing where he worked as a sculptor’s assistant, was forcibly demolished¹⁴, Mr. Liu disappeared into the ruins to protest the destruction. That became the first work in his “Hiding in the City” series, which won him international attention.

42岁的刘勃麟于2006年第一次化身为隐形人。当时他在北京郊区索家村艺术区，为一位雕塑师担任助理。当索家村被强行拆除时，他隐形于废墟之中，抗议强拆行动。这成为了《城市迷彩》(Hiding in the City)系列的第一个作品。他凭借这一系列作品，赢得了国际关注。

“Smog, as a top-level carcinogen, has created fear among Chinese people,” Mr. Liu said of “Winter Solstice.” (The World Health Organization has classified outdoor air pollution and one of its major components¹⁵, particulate¹⁶ matter, as cancer-causing agents.)

“雾霾是高度致癌的，它在中国民众当中引发了担忧，”刘勃麟评价《冬至》时说。（世界卫生组织将室外空气污染及其主要成分颗粒物质归类为致癌物。）

“This work actually shows the helplessness modern people feel,” he said. “The fear in their hearts. Their struggles.”

“这个作品实际上展现了现代人的无助感，”他说。“他们心中的恐惧。他们的挣扎。”