JR's London "Inside Out" Outdoor Campaign

By Chen Chi-Hsiang

There is the renowned street graffiti artist Banksy in the UK, and the alternative street artist JR in France. Both are international figures, legendary in the contemporary Western art scene and favorites of the media. Their activities are not limited by boundaries, often crossing the Atlantic; JR is active in South America, especially Brazil and Africa. Their art is not for fame or profit. In a recent interview, Banksy responded to money: "It's completely not like that. Commercial success means this graffiti artist has failed. We shouldn't aim to make money. Look at how many wrong people are rewarded in society today; monetary reward is nothing but a mark of selfish mediocrity." At their core, they address political consciousness, participating in obscure local and global social movements. Their images are strongly critical.

JR is the uppercase letters of his own name. Like many street graffiti artists, he uses a logo or anonymity to facilitate urban guerrilla tactics. JR becomes his creative identity symbol and personal mark. His alternative broad definition is one of street graffiti art, such as anonymous citizen portraits frequently appearing on walls in the marginal areas of Paris. JR specializes in using "anonymous" (any pedestrian, villager, or resident) portrait images to convey social and human information. He constructs his works through black-and-white photographic output, displayed according to environmental space, often as large poster-like single images, such as directly pasted on urban walls or placed on rooftops, highlighting their living environment. The intent is to emphasize local consciousness and shock, or to raise questions about politics, race, and various social issues.

This autumn, when the wind was crisp, JR launched his outdoor campaign "Inside Out" in London, the fashion capital. From a plaza on the banks of the Thames, overlooking the tower of the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben across the river, the artist mobilized an instant photo van. He invited passersby to participate in the exhibition activity. One by one, they were photographed into black-and-white images. The audience held their own photos and took commemorative pictures with the artist; interaction became an element of participation. The artist and assistants directly pasted the photos one by one on the ground and wall pillars, quickly forming a magnificent wall of reverse-anonymous portraits, displaying the faces of the metropolitan atlas. The mobile city, the portraits are external forms and expressions, unintentionally revealing individual and collective consciousness and current emotional positions. Through anonymous interaction, it triggers social faces, creating images of metropolitan figures. External forms are the internal manifestation of JR's art, inside out, expressing the consciousness of the existence of "man" between sociology, urban studies, ethnology, and anthropology.