"The enigmatic French artist JR will undertake what he says is his biggest ever challenge next year when he wraps Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge across the Seine River in Paris, in a tribute to a monumental art project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. For three weeks next June, the 232-metre (761ft) long bridge will be wrapped in fabric, 40 years after the married artists known for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations did the same thing."
"In an exclusive interview with the Guardian in his Paris studio, JR said the project titled the Pont Neuf Cavern was 100% the most challenging thing I've ever done. I love a challenge, the photographer and street artist said. I realised this was an opportunity for me to do something that I needed to do and hadn't been able to do before."
"Since the mid-2000s, JR, who is never seen publicly without his aviator sunglasses and black fedora, has brought large-scale photographic projects to cities around the world. His collaborative installations range from trompe l'il illusions to portraits of people to raise awareness of the marginalised and oppressed. JR's career began as a teenage graffiti artist and street tagger who worked with one eye on the lookout for police."
JR will wrap Paris's Pont Neuf for three weeks next June, covering the 232-metre bridge in fabric as a tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude's earlier wrapping 40 years prior. JR describes the Pont Neuf Cavern project as the most challenging thing he has done and intends to create a rock-like cave in the middle of the city, deliberately disruptive. JR has produced large-scale photographic and collaborative public installations worldwide, ranging from trompe l'il illusions to portraits that raise awareness of marginalised communities. His work was collected in the book Can Art Change the World, with a foreword by George Lucas, and his identity is known to stand for Jean-Rene, age 42, while he retains an air of mystery.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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