"CONTRETEMPS", PERROTIN, 2021

For his new exhibition at Perrotin Tokyo, JR presents a selection of works from his Unframed project in Japan, as well as more recent pieces from his Ballet series, which features dancers on the rooftops of iconic monuments in Paris.

The cohabitation of these two projects responds to the same principle of creation. In both cases, JR intends to highlight individuals and their portraits in places where they wouldn’t be usually expected. The title of the exhibition, "Contretemps", (literally "against time"), immediately engages a reflection on time and creates a dialogue between past and present.

Some works from his Unframed series show portraits of anonymous Japanese policemen pasted on abandoned buildings. These images bring a new energy to ruined places that, thanks to this project, symbolize renewal rather than desolation.

With his works photographed on the rooftop of the Louvre, JR once again modifies our perception of urban landscapes, as he plays with the scale between the elements of the building and the poses of the ballerina.

The series of works taken on the column of the Place de la Bastille, entitled Ballet, Le Porté de la Bastille, shows a pair of dancers performing several lifts. It immortalizes a double flight, that of the genius of Liberty culminating at the top of the column, but also that of the dancers who, through the technicality of the movements, spread their wings for an instant. The title and the location of these works echo the photograph The Lovers of the Bastille, taken in 1957 by Willy Ronis. Once more, JR anchor a past reference in the present, by taking inspiration from it to develop the aesthetics of his own project.