Art World
See These Amazing Images of JR’s Art in Rio for the Olympics
Rio's getting ready and the world is watching.
Naomi Rea
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French street artist JR has created two new amazing public works in celebration of the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and two enormous athletes now decorate the city’s urban landscape, evoking the spirit of the games.
The immense installations were made by canvassing images onto construction scaffolding, a new technique for the artist. His use of construction material allows the installations to both distract from, and complement, Rio’s surrounding urban sprawl.
JR is known for his use of perspective and his penchant for optical illusions. Earlier this summer, he put his trompe l’oeil skills to use in making the Louvre disappear, and elsewhere, his projects in South Africa and New York could only be seen from a bird’s eye view. These epic athletes are not the first project the artist has done in Rio. His project titled, Women are Heroes saw him paste huge photographs of the faces and eyes of local women onto one of the city’s most violent favelas.
One of the huge works is fixed to the roof of an apartment complex. The depicted athlete is one Mohamed Younes Idriss , the artist explains on his Instagram. The 27 year old high-jumper from Sudan, who is depicted in the midst of a high jump, appearing to clear the apartment building, lives and trains in Cologne, Germany. “He missed out on qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics but he is there some how :)” JR wrote. The other giant appears to be frozen, mid-dive, suspended just above the ocean below him.
The great works are just some of the amazing art on view in Rio, inspired by the Olympic Games. Mariko Mori unveiled his latest installation at Cunhambebe State Park yesterday, and artists around the world are being inspired by the age-old sporting competition.
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