In honour of Olympic athletes, French artist erects urban sculptures in Rio
Rio de Janeiro is all about sports this month, with the first Olympic Games in South America captivating the city.
Along with Olympic events, an artistic sports-related project is also drawing attention from tourists and Brazilians in the host city.
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The world-recognized Marvelous City in even more beautiful thanks to French artist JR, who created a project called “Inside Out”. The work consists in two large installations made with construction scaffolding, forming athletic figures.
The project came when JR decided to create something special to celebrate Rio 2016. And he did it. The result is impressive and inspiring. Check it out.
High jump
The first sculpture is a portrait of a high jumper placed on the roof of a residential building. According to JR, his inspiration was Sudanese Mohamed Younes Idriss, an athlete who missed out on qualification for Rio 2016.
The piece was finished a few days before the start of the Olympic Games.
This picture shows JR’s sculpture featuring Rio’s main symbol, Christ the Redeemer, on its right side. The photographer caught the exact moment that an airplane flew over the piece.
Swimming
The second sculpture was inspired by the French triathlon athlete Leonie Periault, who also isn’t in Rio and it seems the artist’s team had to do some negotiations with the Brazilian navy to preserve Periault’s likeness.
The flying sculpture is placed in the Barra neighbourhood, most specifically at the beach Praia do Pepê, and was finished this week.
If you are in Rio for the Olympic Games and have a break between events, take a time to see these amazing pieces of art.
