Street artist JR presents ‘Ads and Art: Sharing the Street’ and Go & See with GoSee at the Draftfcb Welcome Cocktail Party in the shade of the Grand Hotel in Cannes

GoSee has had an eye on street artist JR, whose large-scale portraits in urban spaces are notorious for their controversial nature, for quite some time now. We were delighted to discover that he accepted the invitation from DraftFCB to host the ‘Ads and Art: Sharing the Street’ seminar at Cannes Lions – sadly we were two days late for it though. However, we did our homework all the same and present an insight of his world and some shots of his performance on the auditorium stage.

His work includes a collaborative installation with Cuban/American artist José Parlá, titled ‘The Wrinkles of the City’, for the Havana Biennale. They photographed 25 older locals, whose portraits were then posted across the city in large formats with calligraphic illustrations. The work was spread across walls, usually adorned with portraits of politicians and other just as imposing ‘rulers’.

He plastered photos of faces and eyes onto the favelas in Moro de Providencia, an area known for its social problems. JR elaborates, ‘it’s a project made of bric-a-brac, like the favela itself. We had to adapt to this world where the roofs of houses are made of plastic and children’s revolver are made of steel. We managed to get by in spite of the steep streets, the unsteady houses, the unpredictable electric cables and the exchanges of gunshots where the bullets sometimes go through several houses at once’.

For his ‘the inside out project’, he plastered portraits of Israelis and Palestinians in both countries, even on the guarded borders. ‘Time is Now, Yalla!’ was the call of the artist. We heard him.

Everyone can join in! ‘The inside out project’ enables everyone to share their portrait with their own personal story. The individual stories and portraits are documented online at www.insideoutproject.net. Over 100,000 portraits from over 108 countries have been sent in since March 2011.

We didn’t miss out the invitation for a Welcome Drink from the DraftFCB Delegation and Philip Thomas, CEO of Cannes Lions, in the garden of the Grand Hotel, which Mr. Draft also happened to attend in person. We enjoyed the light breeze on the shady lawn and virtuously sipped a glass of water. We will be mingling a lot here too next year, promise.