“Exactly,” JR nods approvingly.
“Wait—I have moobs!” exclaims Saltz, clutching his chest in mock distress. Laughter erupts from the smattering of people on Playboy’s makeshift set.
Today marks the first time the two men have met, but they have much in common. In addition to being New Yorkers, both are self-taught outsiders — Saltz was a truck driver until the age of 41, and JR usually prefers open spaces to white walls — who have become powerful insiders by insisting that art is for everyone, not just the people who flock to museums and auctions.
We’re here for a private preview of JR: Chronicles, the artist’s first major museum show in North America and his largest exhibit to date. Now 36 years old, he is best known for wheat-pasting colossal black-and-white portraits onto buildings, bridges and the surfaces of geopolitical hot spots around the world. From favela matriarchs in Brazil to a toddler peering over a U.S.-Mexico border fence, his subjects are usually people whose portraits you wouldn’t expect to see exhibited publicly, let alone at skyscraper scale.
This story is from the February 2020 edition of Playboy Australia.
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This story is from the February 2020 edition of Playboy Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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