Image via Complex Original
The semi-anonymous French artist JR is a lithe, fedora-topped presence in more than just art. He dances through the worlds of social activism, community engagement, political process, and fine-art photography with what seems like a deft, imperceptible ease. The public works of the self-coined “photograffeur” (part photographer, part graffiti artist) speak to art as action, where the formation of the piece means as much to his world as the final product of the piece itself. And now, as one of the world’s preeminent artists working truly in and with the public sphere, JR seems to have found his niche. But it was a series of events, some entirely happenstance, that led the artist to this position as our favorite art-activist. The French street artist started tagging the streets of Paris in the late '90s, and has since risen to international fame with his large-scale photos pasted across the globe, his "Inside Out" project. On Friday, JR is headed to London for a two-part solo show at Lazarides Rathbone Gallery called "JR: ACTIONS." The show includes an "Inside Out" installation where locals can decorate the city with their faces. In anticipation of his upcoming show, here is The Art Evolution of JR.
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Brace Your Nerves
Years: 1996 - 1999
Notable works: Face 3
JR, like many young artists who operate in the public sphere, began his practice simply with a desire to see his name all over the surface of the city he lived in. When he started writing graffiti at age 15, it was without any other consciousness than "leaving his mark on society," he'd say in an awards acceptance speech later, "like saying 'I was here.'" Though he had yet to develop a more socially conscious impetus for his public works, it stands to reason this era steeled him to the dangers of working illegally in public spaces, tagging the name Face 3 around Paris.
Start Snapping
Years: 2000
Notable works: Graffiti Documentation
According to JR, when he was 17, he found a camera in a Parisian metro station. He professes it was a cheap automatic, but he started experimenting with different types of film. This is when he transitioned away from graffiti proper, though he was still going on bombing runs with his graff buds. He began documenting the high-risk graffiti adventures instead of simply participating in them. During this era, he also found his two-tone moniker, shying away from the Face 3 name and simply writing his initials, JR.
Public Presentation
Years: 2001 - 2004
Notable works: "Expo 2 Rue"
JR started printing out the portraits and action shots he took of his graff crew, small-scale black and whites that he would give to his friends. But the portraits would consistently get misplaced. In the end, JR had a better idea for these photos: he'd use the graffiti techniques of wheat pasting to create ad-hoc galleries all of ever Paris. He even used spray paint to designate frames and words, denoting that these were intended to create a type of public gallery rather than some kind of advertising.
Large-Scale Stick-Ups
Years: 2004 - present
Notable works: "28 Millimeters, Portrait of a Generation"
JR's immersion into the political was gradual instead of immediately subsuming. Though all of his public art is notably political by default, here it came as a response to actual turmoil rather than personal belief. In 2005, riots broke out in the streets of Paris, mainly in Clichy-sous-Bois, following the electrocution of two teens who were trying to elude police. During the riots, JR took photographs of his friends and acquaintances in the chaos of the street. He began gluing up these photos of young people who were rioting in these suburbs, "destroying their own environment," as JR later said in his TED Talk, burning cars and buildings at night. This was also the era that JR would start looking more towards large-scale works. He wanted these portraits to be in the face of those they were meant to interact with, namely the overruling bourgeois class in the upscale neighborhoods of Paris—the neighborhoods where these portraits would be glued. He'd return to the Cité de la Forestière to recreate the "Portraits of a Generation" series. It was more as a response to class divisions rather than all-out humanitarian impulse, but it helped to establish patterns of creation and habit that would last for the breadth of his career.
The 28mm Lens
Years: 2005 - Present
Notable works: Fisheye Portraits
During the time he began deliberately photographing portraits for wheat pasting, JR was limited by the tools at his disposal. In this case, it was a wide-angle 28mm lens, by now on a digital camera he had acquired. And though it's not a typical portrait lens (its fisheye applies quite a bit of distortion to the image) through the urgency of the 2005 situation and his desire to shoot, he discovered a hallmark of his work. Because of the broad perspective of the 28mm, the photographer is forced to get up close and personal with the subject—it's a method that requires trust between the subject and the photographer, and is a practice that would carry JR throughout his global travels.
Institutionalized
Years: 2006 - Present
Notable works: Tate Modern, Venice Biennale
Though JR has consistently prided himself on displaying in "the largest art gallery in the world"—the streets of whatever city he happens to find himself in—he's also found himself on the outside of legal walls. This began in 2006, when his Clichy-sous-Bois riot portraits were reprinted and put up on the outside of city hall in Paris. This was the moment JR realized the social potential of his relatively simple photo-paste process, leading him to the projects that would come to define him best. He would later go on to exhibit on buildings such as London's Tate Modern, and at the Venice Biennale.
Both Sides of the Wall
Years: 2007
Notable works: "Face2Face"
This was the project that cemented JR as a massive and courageous force. With his cohort named simply Marco, JR traveled to the Israel-Palestine border. The pair went back and forth across the containment wall, photographing men and women on both sides of the divide. They would shoot people on each side that occupied in the same careers—actors, athletes, and clergymen. Using 15,000 square feet of paper, JR and Marco printed out massive portraits of the Palestinian/Israeli duos, and pasting them on both sides of the wall. It was revelatory, showing not the differences but the similarities that these people shared.
Ironing out Metropolis
Years: 2008 - Present
Notable works: "The Wrinkles of the City"
This was another of his very specific projects, centered on three cities across the world: Shanghai, Los Angeles, and Cartagena, Colombia. JR sought out some of the oldest residents of each of these cities, photographed them, and created huge public portraits. The project took place in "cities around the world where 'wrinkles,' human as well as architectural, can be found," according to JR's website. Focusing on the history of a city, its culture, and its people, this project has grown to include versions in La Habana, Cuba and most recently, Berlin.
Recognizing the Victimized
Years: 2008 - 2010
Notable works: "Women are Heroes"
Moving even further into art activism, JR sought out women around the world who had come close to death in some way, interacting with the communities there by interviewing his subjects and getting to know their communities. It's a project that took him to six countries on three continents—the favelas of Rio and the slums of Kenya and India. JR pasted the women's eyes in on building fronts and rooftops in striking prolificacy and large scale. "In order to pay tribute to those who play an essential role in society," reads JR's website, "but who are the primary victims of war, crime, rape and political or religious fanaticism, JR pasted huge photos of the faces and eyes of local women."
Thinking Even Farther Out of the Box
Years: 2009 - Present
Notable works: "Unframed"
For years, JR used only his original photography for his glued-up portraits. But starting in 2009, he began appropriating work from museums and galleries to post up including photos from Robert Capa, Gilles Caron, Helen Levitt, Mario Giacomelli, and anonymous photographers all were part of this new, politically charged project. These large-scale works were just as potent as anything he'd created previously. But directly bringing in the visual work of others would open a creative door for JR, as well as solidify the wheat-paste technique as important in action as in result.
Changing the World
Years: 2011
Notable works: TED Prize
This was the year JR's work was vastly exposed to the mainstream even more than presenting it in a public context even had. In October 2010, the Technology, Entertainment, and Design conferences decided JR's ideas were worth spreading, and the conference committee awarded him their annual award in the early months of 2011. Though he missed out on the 2013 prize money increase to $1 million, JR was awarded $100,000 to help accomplish his wish for the world. He also gave one of the most illuminating and inspiring TED talks of all time.
Flipping the Script
Years: 2011 - Present
Notable works: "Inside Out"
This is where JR's work really collided with the public at large. JR used his wish with the TED Prize money to create a new project that the public could participate in. He called it "Inside Out," a reference to his desire to show the world what we all had in common, a kind of shared sense of humanity. Participants could submit their own photographs to the project. In a short period of time, JR and his team would send back a large poster that could be pasted up. The catch is this: submission must be based around a group's common philosophy. In this way, a sense of community is fostered around the public art project. JR simply provides the impetus and materials. Eventually, JR created roving photo booth trucks with printers to support the project, as in April's Times Square installation where 6,000 portraits were pasted onto the ground. In sum, more than 100 countries have participated in the project, and JR has sent out more than 100,000 posters. "Do you know what it takes to do [a global art project]? People, energy, glue," JR said.
The Moving Image
Years: 2009 - Present
Notable works: Inside Out: The People's Art Project, Women Are Heroes
JR has long used movies and stop motion to capture his work, as it's as much about process as it is product. But a few of his films have stood out in the work. The first was the culmination of his "Women Are Heroes" project. JR filmed all the interviews he did with the women he encountered and the process of pasting up their portraits. The resulting film was one of the most lauded features at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. His second film took a similar documentary process, this time focusing the camera on the "Inside Out" project. It, too, found similar success at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and later screened on HBO. Further, an award-winning documentary called Faces was created around the "Face2Face" project.