Photo: JRart/Twitter

Louvre’s Paper Collage Shredded by Visitors in a Single Day

News
by Eben Diskin Apr 1, 2019

The artworks at the Louvre are not usually victims of the trampling visitors, but this piece by muralist JR sure was. The artist’s paper trompe l’oeil pasted in the museum’s courtyard was dramatically destroyed by the very audience it was designed to move. The amazing collage was intended to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the museum’s glass pyramid; the 183,000-square-foot work made the pyramid appear, from a certain angle, to be sunken and rising from a quarry of white rock.

The work that took 400 volunteers to make was unveiled on Saturday, but by Sunday the 2,000-plus sheets of paper used to create the piece were torn to shreds. While in hindsight the result isn’t exactly unexpected, that didn’t prevent the art community from voicing their disappointment and worrying about the litter the art piece produced.

The artist himself, however, seemed unbothered by the public destruction of his work, tweeting, “The images, like life, are ephemeral. Once pasted, the art piece lives on its own. The sun dries the light glue and with every step, people tear pieces of the fragile paper. The process is all about participation of the volunteers, visitors, and souvenir hunters.”

H/T: The Guardian

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