Profile: JR

Can art change the world?

Street artist JR responded, during his TED Prize wish talk, “Art is not supposed to change the world, to change the practical things, but to change the perceptions. Art can change the way we see the world, art can create energy. Actually the fact that art cannot change things makes it a neutral place for exchanges and discussions, and then enables it to change the world.”

JR, semi-anonymous French photographer and artist, identifies himself as an “urban activist” in creating pervasive art. Drawing from graffiti art, JR envisions art to be an effective method of communicating messages to the public, defying the notion that art should be self-contained, autonomous and separated from its social and economic context. JR strives to expose humanity in the midst of conflict concerning freedom, identity, commitment, and limits.

From the suburbs of Paris to the rooftop of Kenya, JR has been exhibiting massive mono-photographic installations featuring people’s portraits in countries across the globe. Because the posters are black-and-white, there is emphasis on facial features and expressions of individuals, defined through contour and silhouette. By wheatpasting mural-sized posters on walls, rooftops, sides of buildings, bridges, and trains, JR invites the public to engage in intimate dialogue with the artwork. Through incorporating photography with graffiti art, JR creates a visual display of humanity, stripped to its most fundamental and raw form, at the face of conflict. JR’s works acknowledge the existence of those whose lives tell empowering and transformative stories, consequently challenging the perspectives of people toward specific global conflicts. JR’s works consist of international participatory projects, requiring joint effort from other artists, photographers, and willing participants—collaboration is essential. JR highlights the purpose of art as a potent means of communication—an interaction between the subject and the viewer. In JR’s works, art collaborates with the environment regarding medium and content—social issues predominant in society.

Several of JR’s projects under the “28 Millimeters” series aim to unite humanity for peacebuilding. For example, “Face2Face (2007)” addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by noting the commonalities between Israelis and Palestinians. Portraits of Palestinians and Israelis with same jobs are pasted face to face on all sides of Security fence/Separation wall as well as in eight Israeli and Palestinian cities. On JR’s online website, it is written, “We are in favor of a solution in which two countries, Israel and Palestine would live peacefully within safe and internationally recognized borders.” According to JR, in the process of gluing the posters, he was often questioned by people nearby, “What are you doing?” JR answered, “One of them is a taxi driver in Palestine and the other is a taxi driver in Israel, could you guess who is who?” They could not answer.

       "Holy Tryptich"

       Separation Wall Security Fence Israeli Side in Abu Dis, Jerusalem

 “Women are Heroes (2008-2010)” is also a world-scale project by JR, as it is initiated in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Kenya, Brazil, India, and Cambodia. According to the website, the project pays tribute to female “victims of war, crime, rape and political or religious fanaticism,” furthermore highlighting human presence in the midst of social conflict.

      Morro da Providência in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


       Swimming pool at Intercontinental Hotel in Horizontale, Monrovia, Liberia

       General view of Kibera Slum, Kenya

“Wrinkles of the City (since 2008)” is a current project, launched in Cartagena, Shanghai, Los Angeles, La Havana, and Berlin. Here, JR exhibits architectural and human “wrinkles.”

      La Havana, Cuba: Alfonso Ramón Fontaine Batista

       La Havana, Cuba: Rafael Lorenzo y Obdulia Manzano

      Shanghai, China: Zhai Zhixin

      Shanghai, China: Installation of boxes

      Downtown Los Angeles, USA: Michael

       Downtown Los Angeles, USA: Robert Upside Down

Introduction

Envision a starving artist.

The artist paints laboriously on the canvas while crouched on the glazed, cobblestone streets of Montmarte, France. Clothed in an enigmatic perfume of linseed oil and filth, the artist renounces the mainstream pursuit of acquiring material well-being. Instead, the artist chooses a life of destitution and suffering in compensation for an inestimable and intangible luxury—the pursuit of passion in art. This dynamic force is essential to the true identity of an artist. 

A starving artist must exist in every artist. Virginia Nicholson, the author of Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939, wrote, “Art offered [artists] a different way of living, one that believed more than compensated for the loss of comfort and respectability.” The term, “starving artist,” often implies connotations of impracticality, absurdity, contemptibility, and other negative attributes, which pervade the universal perception of artists. Art has been undervalued and denied of it significance in the world. It had caught up on me once—I questioned the significance of art myself. Did Pablo Picasso's anti-war painting, "Guernica," transform people's perspective on war? Did Theodore Gericault's "The Raft of the Medusa" challenge people's perception of the restored French monarchy and humanity? Did Kathe Kollwitz's artworks, which advocate pacifism and preservation of fundamental human rights in her works, transfigure the world? Art appeals to the aesthetic sense and simultaneously provoke people to take action in contributing to the world. Art serves to improve mankind. David Hockney, a prominent English artist, spoke, “If we are to change our world view, images have to change. The artist now has a very important job to do. He's not a little peripheral figure entertaining rich people, he's really needed.”

The misconceptions of the artist figure reflect the ignorance of the contributions of artists which had benefited the world in various ways. Art is destruction and creation. It is self-expression and an embodiment of the mind and the heart. It is the fine line, in which imagination touches reality. Art is a contemplative process encouraging dialogue and interaction between the viewer and the artist. The starving artist is an individual who is not only conscious of its value, but expresses appreciation in a most sincere manner. The definition and meaning of a starving artist as it had been understood historically is not modified; rather, it is redefined in the contemporary context as “the modern starving artist.”

As I'm currently studying art and peace, justice, and conflict studies, I discovered, through time, that within me there was a fervent desire to bridge visual art and social justice. Henceforth the admiration of and pursuit to become a modern starving artist. I yearn to paint the flaws, strengths, and multifaceted aspects of humanity onto the canvas and to capture the beauty discovered within truth. As an artist, I hope to contribute to the world by awakening and enlightening people of the values and morals to be preserved: tolerance, freedom, justice, equality, peace and commitment beyond self. This passion demands the surrendering of one's life. It is the amalgam of liberation and incarceration. It is an excruciating yet transcendent process of self-discovery. As Charles Bukowski once wrote, "Find what you love and let it kill you."