JR at the Louvre, La Pyramide, close-up South West angle
Year: 2019
Medium: color photograph, matte plexiglass, aluminum, wood (face mounted)
Dimensions: 100 x 100 cm (39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in.)
Acquired from Perrotin, 2022
JR is known as an artist who practices bold anamorphosis techniques using photographs in the city. This work is set in the Louvre Museum in Paris. A gigantic glass pyramid is located at the main entrance of the museum’s façade. This work appears to be a simple photograph captured from a particular angle. However, the glass pyramid, one of its most crucial symbols, has vanished without a trace. Instead, the wall of the architecture is pasted by a monochromatic photo at a 45-degree angle, creating an incredible scene that becomes completely covered. On the surface of the pyramid, JR meticulously calculated and pasted images of actual-sized buildings and streets. If viewers stand at the right angle, aligning the image with the background, the pyramid appears to be scraped off and disappeared. The vanishing glass pyramid is the symbol of this place, it is also the façade of the Louvre Museum. What kind of feeling will it bring to the public if it disappears? JR set off a sensation by intervening in certain venues with art projects and realizing his artistic practice in society.
