JR pasting up at the Louvre. Image courtesy of JR's Instagram

Watch JR disappear the Louvre’s pyramid

The artist’s show may not open until next week, yet Instagrammers are already watching one work take shape

Though the Parisian artist JR’s work can be viewed as an update of the French Humanist tradition, his projects are multiplied by audience interaction, particularly on social media.

As he told us last year, this form of social interaction is, ultimately, the greater work. So, while his Louvre exhibition opens next Wednesday, 25 May, it has in a sense, already begun as Instagram is currently alive with shots of the show’s central work, his adaptation of the Louvre Pyramid.

 

JR work being pasted up at the Louvre. Image courtesy of the Louvre's Instagram
JR work being pasted up at the Louvre. Image courtesy of the Louvre's Instagram

As we explained a few weeks’ back, JR is planning using anamorphic techniques to distort visitors’ views of the I M Pei pyramid. It’s a big, bold, popular work, which you don’t need a deep grounding in art or architecture to appreciate. With a few square metres of printed paper, JR and his team will blend the pyramid into the surrounding Cour Napoléon courtyard.

 

R's work being pasted up at the Louvre. Image courtesy of JR's Instagram
R's work being pasted up at the Louvre. Image courtesy of JR's Instagram

While this looks good, the highlight of the Louvre show comes on Sunday 29th May, when JR stages a 24-hour ‘takeover of the museum, a multimedia extravaganza, featuring contributions from the filmmaker Agnes Varda, the model Cara Delevingne and the musician Matthieu –M– Chedid. Find out more here, and for greater insight into this important contemporary artist, buy a copy of our book, JR: Can Art Change the World?, here.