Tag Archives: Exhibition

JR: Chronicles Saatchi Gallery Exhibition

One question I always flounder with is “Who do you think the up and coming future stars in street art are?”, like I have any idea about art picking!   The easier question is “Who has emerged?” and if there is one person who can’t be left out of that answer it is French artist JR.   JR: Chronicles at the Saatchi Gallery is a comprehensive examination of JR’s very impressive back catalogue of art on the streets.  Through a succession of rooms a large number of JR’s street projects are reprised, dissected and explained,  the best part of a couple of hours is recommended.

JR: Chronicles Gallery Art by Street Artist JR showing photos of JR's street art and installations

Portrait Of A Generation inside demolished building

JR’s artistic origins were as a not terribly stylish tagger in Paris who chances on a camera, takes some pretty cracking photos in fairly lairy sink estates dotted around Paris, print them out super cheap and pastes them up on the streets. Among the images is one of a young video maker surrounded by local “yoots”, that cameraman is now better known as the award winning director Ladj Ly and just to digress for a moment, watch Ladj Ly’s 2019 “Les Miserables”, it makes a superb companion to this exhibition as a semi fictional and unaffectionate look back to the environment that shaped JR’s early adult life.

JR: Chronicles Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR: Ladj Ly at Les Bosquets

If you haven’t spotted the jarring “trick of the eye” in the Les Bosquets photo, if you find it inexcusably intimidating well you’re not alone, JR tells us that when that photo was pasted on the side of the Tate Modern in 2008, the Director initially refused the image as he thought it was a gun as well.  That was the point, JR was challenging your inclination to jump to racist conclusions.

JR photo of Ladj Li holding camera like a gun at Tate Modern Street Art Exhibition 2008

JR: Tate Modern, 2008

Banksy’s first London exhibition was an un-authorised street take-over in 2001, JR adopted the same tactic in the same year.  His “Expo 2 Rue”, translated as “Sidewalk Gallery”, involved guerrilla pasting his photos on building site hoardings and to add emphasis to his paste ups he sprayed picture frames around the paste ups linked together by straight lines.  JR: Chronicles has a little humorous play with the form of JR’s Expo 2 Rue concept, a blown up photo of an Expo 2 Rue installation incorporates a video screen framed where the paste up was. “Tres droll” he probably wouldn’t say.

JR: Chronicles Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR – Expo 2 Rue

The scale of JR’s achievements transcend the boundary between street art and fine art, appealing as readily to art world snobs as to people who would never normally contemplate attending an art exhibition.  This can perhaps be appreciated by splitting his endeavours into three component parts, vaguely and inadequately summarised (my inadequacy, not the exhibition’s) as Idea, Execution and Documentation.

JR: Chronicles Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR au Louvre et le Secret de la Grande Pyramid

The ideas and concepts are the things that earn JR a place among the giants of contemporary art in the “proper” art world and galleries like Saatchi.  JR has completed a very impressive number of major projects in what is still a comparatively young career.  The hallmark of them all is quality and originality, from his Expo 2 Rue at age 17 to Women Are Heroes and Gun Chronicles by way of Wrinkles Of the City, Portrait of A Generation and more, a mere 7 huge rooms at Saatchi’s Kings Road art palace is barely sufficient.

Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR: Projects

If JR has a secret cellar to which failures are condemned, surely there must be some, it is well hidden.  The execution of them is undoubtedly thoroughly thought through, one of his charming trademarks is corralling local volunteer’s enthusiastic assistance in putting up his large paste up projects.  For those who may have no idea how printed street art can be created on such magnificent scale various display cases, models and prop do great job of lifting the veil on those production secrets.

Work In Progress JR photo of Ladj Li holding camera like a gun at Tate Modern Street Art Exhibition 2008

JR Work In Progress, Tate Modern 2008

How do you print out the images?  They are made from continuous sheets of paper 36 inches wide and in one of the films you see an architect’s printer spewing paper like a long string of spaghetti.  How many sheets?  In one of the vitrines are JR’s working images with the construction lines drawn by hand which divides the image into the stripes for printing and ultimately for putting the strips in the right order,  a laden trolley laden demonstrates how many rolls of paper might go into one of those epic paste ups.

Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR: work in progress

There’s nothing quite so unpredictable as the public which coupled with JR’s “suck it and see” approach to putting up installations in locations where authorities are hostile (Israel, USA border) has given him a wealth of anecdotes which are well with tuning into, you can access his spoken word stories online away from the gallery.  Treat it like a podcast, you can for example access it using the QR code further down this page or it is currently available on youtube.

You might not find the “process” insights interesting, poor you, but scrutiny of those aspects can reveal secrets hidden in plain sight.  The image of a tea party JR arranged to take place through the USA Mexico border fence is well known, JR explains in one of the videos that on the Mexican side they sit at a table; on the USA side the party was “guerrilla style” as the artist was denied permission so the party on the American side takes place not on a table but a printed canvas unfurled and passed through from the Mexican side.  My chin dropped.

JR: Migrants, Mayra, Picnic across the Border, Quadrichromie, Tecate, Mexico – USA, 2017

JR’s contact sheets from earlier analogue photography projects are displayed in several vitrines in various rooms.  In the contact sheet of the images of Ladj Ly holding his camera like a gun the famous image is the very first one on the sheet, it captures the ominous energy of the kids surrounding Ladj just at that moment as they clamoured to be in the photo, in the other photos the kids were basically posturing and with the absence of spontaneity the menace becomes cartoonised.

Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR: Portrait Of A Generation Contact Sheet

The third pillar of JR’s enterprise is the element that allows JR to produce stunning books and exhibitions.  It’s the documentation, JR takes brilliant photographs of JR’s photography projects!

Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR: Portrait Of A Generation

JR attributes his trademark hat and glasses to the early need to avoid being identified by a local mayor who wanted to sue him.   He does however explain his art to camera in a comprehensive and articulate way but always in hat and glasses.  For someone so preoccupied with anonymity shyness is not an issue!

street artist JR in front of the Inside Out Travelling Photo Booth

JR and Inside Out photo booth at Somerset House, 2013

JR does not sign his paste ups though sometimes the artist is unavoidably present at a microscopic scale, check the reflection in the subject’s eyes in, for example, the Nairobi train!

Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR: Women Are Heroes, Kibera, Kenya

JR’s projects are concerned with humanity, often illustrating the unnecessary impact that boundaries, borders and schisms in society have on humanity, or should that be the impact the unnecessary borders have?  In essence he probes and highlights people’s impact on people.

Child peeps over US Mexico Border by Street Artist JR

GIANTS, Kikito and the Border Patrol, Tecate, Mexico – USA

The humanity becomes a teeming multitude in the Chronicles project, JR photographs up to a 1,000 people in basically the way they would like to be photographed then collages the individuals into a huge mural.  There is a tendency for the impact to resemble a hyper realistic nightmare or disaster movie.  JR toys with your own interpretations of the evidence of your own eyes, is what you see really a violent disorder, or is it actually a community out playing and dancing?

Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR: Chronicles de Clichy-Montfermeil (detail)

Another thing that the show achieves which you can’t really replicate on a book or in a tiny screen is to impress with the scale and the level of detail in the augmented reality Chronicles.  Download the JR – net app then point your phone at the relevant Chronicles mural causes a pointer to skip from person to person in the mural and through the magic of multi media you can hear that persons’ story as recorded by JR.  Gun Chronicles occupies the whole of a large wall and incorporates 245 different viewpoints on the gun issue.  JR avoids casting judgement, pro and anti Right To Carry folk are included and your reaction to the arguments tells you all you need to know about yourself rather than the issue.  Good luck on completing the dive into the stories of all 1,128 citizens in The Chronicles Of New York City!

Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR: Chronicles Of New York

The opening of JR: Chronicles in June was accompanied by another iteration in several London locations of JR’s Inside Out project.  This manifests as a travelling photo booth in a van modified to look like a polaroid camera where, after a long queue, your photo is taken and printed out on a large sheet and pasted on the ground like a massive outdoor version of a school yearbook if you went to that kind of school, not me!

Street Art Tour Guide Dave Stuart from Shoreditch Street Art Tours participates in JR's Inside Out photography project at Somerset House London 2013

JR Inside Out Project, Somerset House 2013

The same van stars in JR’s film “Faces Places” made with the acclaimed French director the acclaimed late Agnes Varda (click HERE for trailer).

Tour Guide Dave Stuart collects photo from JR's Inside Out photo booth at Somerset House, 2013

The Inside Out photo booth at Somerset House, 2013

That segues us nicely into an appreciation of how JR’s story is really like a street art fairytale.  The promise of street art is that anyone can present their art to a public audience, you don’t need an art degree, critical approval or gallery acceptance, you create your own art world by placing your art on the streets.  Direct from you the artist to the consumer, no middleman necessary.  JR has basically parlayed this circumventing the art system system from untutored photography to hijacking wall space and from there to projects in Israel and Palestine meeting with military disapproval, to exhibitions in posh London galleries and films with the luminati of the film world.  No formal art education or art world blessing required.  Know anyone else who did that?

Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR: Face To Face Contact Sheet

Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

JR: Face To Face, Separation Wall

One more thing in a show where so much effort has gone into making the artist look effortlessly cool, the QR codes are functioning pieces of art.  No doubt if I ask a young person I will find yet again I am ages, like months behind the times dude.

Gallery Art by Street Artist JR shows photos of JR's street art

QR Code Art (go on, test it)

The show dissects it’s subject into 7 themed zones, in each an idea and to a greater or lesser extent the process is revealed.  The whole show is the manifestation of the third dimension of JR’s activity, the documentation, it really earns that title “Chronicles”.


JR: Chronicles

Saatchi Gallery 4 June – 3 October 2021

Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London, SW3 4RY

Booking essential: tickets


Links:

JR’s website

Graffoto review of JR’s 2015 exhibition “Crossing” at Lazarides Gallery

Photos of JR’s photos of JR’s Photos by Dave Stuart


Banksy, Dismaland , street art, street artist, Weston Super Mare, exhibition

Dismaland – Banksy is back!

British street artist Banksy has sprung a surprise on the unsuspecting public by opening an epic new show in the West Country coastal resort Weston Super Mare.  While setting out to parody disappointing fairground parks it succeeds in creating a hugely entertaining adventure with art and what Banksy describes as “entry-level anarchy” included.

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There are fairground rides, stalls, a fairy castle which is grim rather than Grimm, galleries, cafes and bars and of course you exit through the gift shop.

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Banksy himself has created 10 new works for the event and in the galleries and various other locations are sculptures, installations and paintings by another 60 or so artists.  The program also features performances, film, bands and DJs.

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Banksy’s last significant activity was the “Better Out Than In” 30 day residency on the streets of New York in 2013 and before that he had epic art events in the UK with Cans Festival in 2008 and Banksy v. Bristol Museum in 2009. This production manages to trump all those for a variety of reasons.

The creation of Dismaland was shrouded in mystery, there had been rumours for over a month that Bansky was up to something at the abandoned lido site but a pretend Grey Fox film production was used to mask the true intention behind the work taking place on the site.  The announcement came 3 days before the official opening, typical Banksy secrecy and short notice.

Banksy, Dismaland , street art, street artist, Weston Super Mare, exhibition

Bill Barminski – X-Ray search (cardboard plus performance guards)

To get deeper into the Dismaland experience and for insights into Banksy’s achievement, check Graffoto’s review (written by Dave, Shoreditch Street Art Tour’s guide).

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Admission costs £3 per person and is either by timed entry tickets booked online here or some are available on the day at the site but are likely to be then subject to queuing with a one-out-one-in system in operation.  At the moment the ticket website is down and expected to go live at noon on Tuesday 26th August.  Monday 25th is “walk up, cash only” admission.

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All photos: Dave Stuart  except featured image courtesy Banksy website www.dismaland.co.uk


London, Shoreditch,street art,street artist, gallery, pop up, exhibition, skeleton, skeleton cardboard, canvas, paint, spraypaint, marker

Skeleton Cardboard: Not In Use

It’s all about the art on the street, that’s Shoreditch Street Art Tours. However, last Saturday the tour chanced upon an un-publicised pop-up one day exhibition by someone who has featured often on the tours and on the Shoreditch Street Art Tours blog – Skeleton Cardboard. So we popped in!

London, Shoreditch,street art,street artist, gallery, pop up, exhibition, skeleton, skeleton cardboard, canvas, paint, spraypaint, marker

Photo: 71RCS

 

Inside was a collection of Skeleton Cardboard’s increasingly crazy skeleton characters with their appropriation and mockery of health and safety warnings.

London, Shoreditch,street art,street artist, gallery, pop up, exhibition, skeleton, skeleton cardboard, canvas, paint, spraypaint, marker

Photo: 71RCS

The thing that was really special was that this to view the exhibition you walked off the street directly into someone’s front room, a private dwelling. One of those gallery experiences where you don’t feel in the least bit intimidated or over-awed at being in front of a display of art. Rather like viewing street art on the street actually.

London, Shoreditch,street art,street artist, gallery, pop up, exhibition, skeleton, skeleton cardboard, canvas, paint, spraypaint, marker

Photo: 71RCS

There are a few photos from Skeleton Cardboard’s show here, with thanks to his and our hosts from 71 Redchurch Street to whom credit is due for these photographs (except featured image at top: NoLionsInEngland). A more detailed review can be seen on the Graffoto blog here.


London, street art, Bristol, Banksy, Exhibition, tour, walk, graffiti

Flashback – Banksy v. Bristol Museum and Art Gallery 2009

It was 5 years ago that Banksy took over Bristol Museum and Art Gallery for what was his biggest ever proper exhibition. With pre publicity consisting of an undignified scamble by TV stations to a hastily convened press conference the night before, this show took us first by surprise then by storm with attendance records smashed.

London, street art, Bristol, Banksy, Exhibition, tour, walk, graffiti

Banksy v. Bristol commoners

Banksy’s team worked over a three day period behind closed doors to install 100 pieces of Banksy paintings and sculpture, including a mock up of his studio.

London, street art, Bristol, Banksy, Exhibition, tour, walk, graffiti

Banksy Studio mock up (detail)

Not only was it the largest Banksy inside exhibition ever, it was also his most recent in the UK as we can safely exclude the Marks and Stencils Christmas 2010 group show in Soho, London. We are overdue another Banksy epic on these shores (we felt that in May 2009 too)!

London, street art, Bristol, Banksy, Exhibition, tour, walk, graffiti

Where Banksy drew the line

Banksy’s real coup was showing how even stuffy institutions could be transformed into a wildly popular public exhibition with a dash of humour and populism, the show was the biggest tourist attraction in the West Country for years and indeed since.

London, street art, Bristol, Banksy, Exhibition, tour, walk, graffiti

Enter via the 4 hour queue

Graffoto provided the best coverage at the time with both a review by NoLionsInEngland (moi) and an obsessive’s guide and record of the exhibits by Shellshock, my friend, co-blogger and author of the two famous Banksy Locations and Tours books.

London, street art, Bristol, Banksy, Exhibition, tour, walk, graffiti

Banksy Fat Tourist Rickshaw

LINKS:

Banksy v. Bristol Art Museum and Gallery Review

Banksy v. Bristol Art Museum and Gallery guide to exhbition

all photos: NoLionsinEngland