JR: Chronicles is a new exhibition at London’s Saatchi Gallery featuring iconic work from the acclaimed French artist

The exhibition comprises best-known work from the past 15 years, including the artist's legendary graffiti works and large-scale art projects plastered on buildings.

Date
4 June 2021

Today marks the launch of JR: Chronicles at London’s Saatchi Gallery, the largest solo museum exhibition to date of the acclaimed French artist JR, curated by Sharon Matt Atkins and Drew Sawyre from the Brooklyn Museum. Known for his graffiti art and photographs pasted on building facades throughout urban cities, the show features some of JR’s most iconic pieces from the past 15 years, tracing his early graffiti art made as a teenager through to his large-scale architectural pieces worldwide, plus his more recent digital collaged murals.

Other works featured in the show include The Secret of the Great Pyramid (2019), the large-scale collaborative piece crafted for the 30th anniversary of the Louvre Pyramid, Tehachapi (2019), a piece that looks at JR’s experiences with inmates of a maximum-security prison in California, plus Women Are Heroes (2008-2009), which honours the contributions of women to publish life through large-scale images of their eyes and faces. JR is also a TED Prize winner, an Oscar nominated filmmaker and one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2018. He’s reached acclaim for his art projects that raise awareness of social issues, from women’s rights to immigration and gun control, and he’s often found spotlighting communities around the world, wheat pasting their images on buildings.

JR: Chronicles takes visitors on a global journey through the intimate storytelling of one of today’s most influential contemporary artists,” says Laura Uccello, partnerships director at Saatchi Gallery in the release. “The exhibition opens in London during a key moment in time in which social engagement and the power of communities have taken centre-stage in London and around the world.” The exhibition has been made in collaboration with Brooklyn Museum, with both parties sharing the aim to provide public access to contemporary art and to support social engagement, and is supported by Art Explora.

“Through his powerful storytelling abilities, collaboration with and commitment to community, and willingness to question power structures and institutions, JR has re-invented the medium of photography in the 21st century,” writes the press release. “Showcasing photographs, films and documentation of the artist’s installations, this major exhibition demonstrates how and why JR’s practice has managed to both capture the imagination of audiences worldwide and expand the meaning of public art through participatory projects that give visibility and agency to a broad spectrum of people.”

JR: Chronicles is organised by the Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition will open at Saatchi Gallery, London on 4 June 2021. Tickets are on sale now here. Major support is provided by Art Explora.

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JR (French, born 1983). Migrants, Mayra, Picnic across the Border, Tecate, Mexico—U.S.A., 2017. Installation image. Wheat-pasted poster on table (Copyright © JR-ART.NET, 2017)

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About the Author

Ayla Angelos

Ayla is a London-based freelance writer, editor and consultant specialising in art, photography, design and culture. After joining It’s Nice That in 2017 as editorial assistant, she was interim online editor in 2022/2023 and continues to work with us on a freelance basis. She has written for i-D, Dazed, AnOther, WePresent, Port, Elephant and more, and she is also the managing editor of design magazine Anima. 

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