JR Strikes Again With His Illusion Across Façade of French Embassy in Rome

By Ewelina Lepionko

Who could have ever imagined that photography could be installed into streets? Well street artist JR did just the unimaginable by combining the two. 

JR has the largest art gallery in the world. Thanks to his photographic collage technique, he exhibits his work free of charge on the walls of the whole world – attracting the attention of those who do not usually go to museums.

JR has created "Infiltrating art".

During his college activities, the local communities take part in the act of artistic creation, with no stage separating actors from spectators. The anonymity of JR and the absence of any explanation accompanying his huge portraits leave him with a free space in which issues and actors, performers, and passers-by meet, forming the essence of his work.

Born in France on February 22, 1983, JR was just another average teenager with a passion for graffiti. He lived graffiti and truly enjoyed the movement. His graffiti moniker was Face 3. However, it was not until he found a camera on the subway that his perception of street art change. This allowed him to track the individuals who communicate messages via walls and street art. In 2004, street artist JR photographed the riots that broke out in the banlieues and created his first major project by pasting up large prints of their faces around the city.
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Currently, his most common method to create street art is through the use of wheat pasting and gigantic mono photographs. 

This artist combines powerful social statements through large portraits and murals. 

In 2007, he managed to create the largest illegal exhibition ever. His street artwork was placed as huge portraits of Israelis and Palestinians face to face in a variety of Palestinian and Israeli cities. Not only that but he bravely engaged in illegal activity by bypassing authorities and securities on both sides of the separation wall in this location. This exhibition was widely known as Face 2 Face.

His artwork is just one simple wish to change the world one step at a time.

JR is continuing his series of monumental trompe l'oeil installations with a new piece at the French Embassy in Rome. Titled Punto di Fuga, or Vanishing Point, he has opened up the façade of the Palazzo Farnese.

The installation, which spreads over more than 6,500 square feet, is actually a clever way to disguise scaffolding. Palazzo Farnese is currently undergoing restoration, and JR was called in to transform the scaffolding into a work of art. JR's illusion works perfectly with the architecture, harkening back to 17th- and 18th-century etchings of Rome that would have been used as souvenirs during the Grand Tour.
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The new street art installation is the latest artistic initiative involving the French embassy in Rome to make headlines. Through its spectacular black-and-white trompe l'oeil the building remains metaphorically open even during the restoration works.