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JR’s exhibition at Perrotin in New York was one that is not only visually pleasing, but emotionally moving. He tackles heavy issues prevalent in our current society such as immigration, the role of women in society and poverty.
I wish I would have started in the room where JR’s films for his projects ‘Women are Heros’ and a child peering over the border wall separating the United States from Mexico. The powerful videos draw you in, instantly and explain the art in such an eloquent moving way.
The photo (above) shows one of JR's most recent projects, which highlights the highly controversial topic of immigration in the United States and the border wall.
JR also created artworks in various forms (see above) highlighting his infamous photo instillation at the actual Mexico/U.S. border wall (see below), representing the mothers that were separated from their children.
In addition to the instillation of the child peering over the wall - JR created an event and film of a table, splicing through the border wall, at which Mexican and United States citizens enjoy a meal togehter on their respective sides.
As you can imagine this 'picnic' got a lot of media attention (as most of JR's instillations do). Some great articles can be found here: CNN, Vice, Hypebeast.
In 2014, JR created the project called 'Eyes on Boat' at the port of Le Havre.
"JR pasted 2,600 strips of paper on shipping containers of a cargo ship, the eyes of Elizabeth Kamanga, a Kenyan woman photographed during the project “Women Are Heroes”. - Perrotin
About JR
You could say that JR’s entrance into the artworld was completely accidental. Almost 20 years ago, JR was just another rebellious tagger in France until this incident...
"Discovering an abandoned camera in one of the city’s Metro stations at age 17, he added photography to his creative talents when he began documenting his friends while they were tagging" - Perrotin Press Release
He's now most famous for mastering the 'Wheat Pasting Technique', which lets graffiti artists put up large scale works quickly before being discovered (by the police).
And while JR is reminiscent to a ‘real name’ it’s just as much a pseudonym as Banksy or KAWS.
“JR's work combines art and action, and deals with commitment, freedom, identity and limits” - Excerpt from the book Women Are Heroes
JR is represented by the following galleries
Galerie Perrotin (Paris, Hong-Kong, Miami and New York)
Lazarides in London
Magda Danysz in Shanghai
Simon Studer Art in Geneva
Springmann Gallery in Berlin
"JR exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not typical museum visitors" - JR
