Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

JR Continues His “Wrinkles of the City” Series in Istanbul

French artist JR has just completed a new installment of his "Wrinkles of the City" project in Istanbul. He first began the series (covered here) in 2008, as an effort to paint a portrait of urbanization around the world. Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, is the economic and cultural center of the country. With a population of 14.4 million people, it is also the largest urban agglomeration in Europe - more than 60% of people living there were born out of the city. As an answer to the growing lack of space, buildings are being demolished to make room for the construction of new neighborhoods. JR spent two weeks on top of its roofs and in its streets, installing large scale images of its elder generation, who have shaped and been affected by Istanbul's population shift.

French artist JR has just completed a new installment of his “Wrinkles of the City” project in Istanbul. He first began the series (covered here) in 2008, as an effort to paint a portrait of urbanization around the world. Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, is the economic and cultural center of the country. With a population of 14.4 million people, it is also the largest urban agglomeration in Europe – more than 60% of people living there were born out of the city. As an answer to the growing lack of space, buildings are being demolished to make room for the construction of new neighborhoods. JR spent two weeks on top of its roofs and in its streets, installing large scale images of its elder generation, who have shaped and been affected by Istanbul’s population shift. Now their faces, wrinkles and all, become a part of it as well. Take a look at more images of JR’s “Wrinkles of the City” in Istanbul below, courtesy of the artist.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Barcelona based multi-disciplinary artist Suso33 is constantly seeking different ways to express himself. His explorations have taken him from beginnings in the graffiti scene, to painting and performing arts, and he has become one of Spain's most established live-painters. When he paints murals, he doesn't think in terms of labels, whether it be "street art" or "graffiti". To him, what's most important is the communication of an idea, and his come in many forms and visual styles. His most recent mural in Bilbao, Spain borders on the surreal and supernatural.
Despite some drizzly weather, Portland is looking a little more colorful this week. As of August 24th, the nonprofit mural festival Forest for the Trees, previously covered here, has been in high gear as 29 international artists work their magic on buildings across the city. The festival is co-directed by local artist Gage Hamilton and gallerist Matt Wagner of Hellion Gallery in Portland, who wanted to expand on their city's visual identity through art. For its third year in a row, the project has a goal of creating 19 collaborative new murals.
"Painting doesn't follow the rules of architectural space; it has a totally different set of rules. Why should it then behave exactly according to those rules?" This is the question that German artist Katharina Grosse asks herself as she creates her colorful explosions over earth, objects and canvas. Her works, previously covered here, are raw and produced quickly with little else besides the artist's spray gun.  The way that Grosse arranges colors has been recently studied in Gagosian Gallery of London's massive survey of Spray Art. Whether she is creating an outdoor installation or painting on canvas, all of her pieces are site specific, as in her latest exhibition, "The Smoking Kid," which closed over the weekend at König Gallerie in Berlin.
Ricky Lee Gordon, who also paints under the moniker of Freddy Sam, is a Cape Town, South Africa based artist focused on bringing to light social issues with his large scale murals. "My intention with this and all my murals is to create an artwork that has meaning to the community who will live with the mural," Gordon writes at his blog. He is also known for his curatorial work and creative activism, notably as the co-founder of Colour Ikamva, an art outreach program designed to re-imagine education through creativity and self-empowerment.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List