JR: Chronicles

by JR, Anne Pasternak (Introduction), Drew Sawyer (Contributor)

A comprehensive overview on the French artist who has transformed cities worldwide with his epic portraits of their inhabitants Over the past two decades, French artist JR has massively expanded the impact of public art through his ambitious projects that give visibility and agency to people around the world. Showcasing the full scope of the artist's career, Chronicles accompanies the first major exhibition in North America of works by the French-born artist. Working at the intersections of photography, social engagement and street art, JR collaborates with communities by taking individual portraits, reproducing them at a monumental scale and wheat pasting them―sometimes illegally―in nearby public spaces.

This superbly produced volume traces JR's career from his early documentation of graffiti artists as a teenager in Paris to his large-scale architectural interventions in cities worldwide, to his more recent digitally collaged murals that create collective portraits of diverse publics. The centerpiece of the accompanying exhibition is The Chronicles of New York City , a new epic mural of more than 1,000 New Yorkers. Also included are previously unseen murals set in Brooklyn; Face 2 Face , diptychs of Israelis and Palestinians in Palestinian and Israeli cities; Women Are Heroes , featuring images of the eyes of women gazing back at their communities in numerous countries; The Gun A Story of America , JR's complex work on guns in America; and other equally famous works.

JR (born 1983) is best known for his monumental, wheat-pasted street portraiture projects. JR has carried out projects across the globe. He has shown in museums worldwide and has created site specific works for the Louvre, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the Centre Pompidou.

240 pages, Hardcover

Published November 19, 2019

About the author

JR is the name of a photographer and artist whose identity is unconfirmed. He has described himself as a "photograffeur", he flyposts large black-and-white photographic images in public locations in a manner which is similar to the appropriation of the built environment by the graffiti artist. He states that the street is "the largest art gallery in the world." He started out on the streets of Paris. JR's work "often challenges widely held preconceptions and the reductive images propagated by advertising and the media."

JR's work combines art and action and deals with commitment, freedom, identity and limits. He has been introduced by Fabrice Bousteau as: "the one we already call the Cartier-Bresson of the 21st century". On October 20, 2010, JR won the TED prize for 2011. "The TED Prize is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, 'One Wish to Change the World.' Designed to leverage the TED community's exceptional array of talent and resources, the Prize leads to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact."

Reviews

[Eric Verhoye · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don't need a fancy camera or fancy print (the prints disapear after a few days). The projects don't even have the ambition to immortalise the moment or the detail. The pictures shown just offer a glimpse of the interaction between photograph-people-surroundings. A bit like a family snapshot (where the photo is rather meaningless for non-participants). The movie "Visages villages" goes even a step further. No need for photo just a story.

On an other level, each photo screems: YOU DON'T NEED A FANCY CAMERA ... .