Louvre illusion art installation comes unstuck

Louvre illusion art installation comes unstuck: Stickers that made Paris museum appear to be rising from a huge crater are destroyed after just two days because glue did not work

  • The artwork was created by French artist JR to mark 30 years of Louvre pyramid 
  • It was made up of thousands of stickers laid by JR and an army of volunteers 
  • Just 24 hours after it was opened the exhibit has already started to peel away
  • The Louvre said the artwork was always intended to be a temporary exhibition 

A brand new exhibition at the Louvre gallery in Paris has become ‘unstuck and damaged’ just 24 hours after it was first installed.

The ‘Anamorphosis’ installation by the artist JR, to celebrate 30 years of the famous Louvre pyramid, is made up of ‘stickers’ which were stuck to the ground around the structure to form an optical illusion.

But one day after the the exhibit was first opened to the public, the tiles have already started to peel and fray. 

 

A picture taken by artist JR shows the huge collage created by the French artist in the courtyard of the Louvre

The temporary stickers have been ripped up by pedestrians walking over it and allegedly taking home for souvenirs

The temporary stickers have been ripped up by pedestrians walking over it and allegedly taking home for souvenirs

Close-up images show the destruction caused by footfall just 24 hours after it was first installed

Close-up images show the destruction caused by footfall just 24 hours after it was first installed

The piece, which was due to be exhibited at the famous art gallery from Friday March 29 to Sunday March 31 this week, having earlier been laid by JR and a team of volunteers. 

‘Anamorphosis’ art is a style in which the artwork only makes sense from one single perspective. 

Reports suggested the glue had failed to set in places meaning the stickers were ripped up almost immediately by the public walking over them. 

Visitors said that areas with high pedestrian traffic were particularly badly damaged but some people allegedly took home pieces of the stickers as a souvenir.  

Videos posted on Instagram by JR showed several visitors picking up the stickers in an apparent attempt to take home a keepsake. 

Captioning the videos, the artist said he wanted people to take home pieces of the exhibit, saying: ‘Take it all! Love these scenes, this is the best part!’ 

In a statement, a Louvre spokesperson sought to downplay the issue.

One caption thanked people for taking the stickers away

Another commended a visitor on the piece of the installation he took

The artist JR posted on Instagram encouraging visitors to come and take away the stickers

They said: ‘It is to be expected that it would be damaged, but we did not know how quickly it would happen. The heat has dried the glue. In any case, it was scheduled to be taken down on Monday, so everything is OK.’

A picture posted by JR on Twitter shows the artwork before the damage was inflicted taken from the exact point it is intended to be viewed from – on the third floor of the Louvre, in a storeroom.

The illusion shows the famous Louvre pyramid stretching upwards from inside a cavernous hole at nearly twice its normal height. 

According to the gallery, visitors will still be able to see the original design despite the damage and screens have been set up at the entrance to show how it is supposed to look.  

The artwork was created as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the famous glass pyramid, which was designed and installed by architect Ieoh Ming Pei, and officially inaugurated on March 29, 1989.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk