Amazing Photographic Art Installation For The NYC Ballet & How It Was Done.

French artist JR was recently invited by the New York City Ballet to create a large-scale art installation, in collaboration with the dancers of the Company, for their 2014 Art Series.





The artist, who is known for exhibiting his works outside of museums and catching the attention of the public by freely placing his art on buildings and walls all over the world, has created an homage to the human form and dance within the hallways and floors of Lincoln Center for the New York City Ballet's Second Art Series.



above: the artist in the center of his floor installation

The installation includes numerous pieces, all created from JR's photographs of the NYC Ballet Company dancers clad in white. Large images are placed on the windows facing the exterior and can be found in various places in the interior. JR then created ink transfers on wood of some of his photographs and placed these throughout the halls of the venue. The piece de resistance is the floor, covered with a giant tromp l'oeil collage of the dancers against and interacting with white paper, creating a three-dimensional illusion with which he intends people to interact.

JR's photographs for the installation:







The ink wood transfers made from his photos:







The photographic floor installation:





Interacting with the installation:






A poster with an photo of the installation is being used to advertise the NYCB Art Series throughout New York:


Installing the art piece:




Many of the above images of the creation of this extraordinary installation are from JR's own instagram feed.

NYCB Art Series Presents: JR


His work will be on view at three special New York City Ballet Art Series performances on January 23rd, February 7th and February 13th, where all tickets are priced at $29, and all audience members will receive a limited edition commemorative piece.

Performances will go on sale to the public on January 6th.

About The NYCB Art Series:
NYCB Art Series commissions contemporary artists to create original works of art inspired by our unique energy, spectacular dancers, and one-of-a-kind repertory of ballets. New York City Ballet has worked with leading and emerging artists throughout the Company’s history — luminaries like Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Julian Schnabel. We are proud to continue this tradition through annual collaborations with some of the most compelling new artists on the scene today.

About the artist:
JR exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not typical museum visitors. His work mixes Art and Act, talks about commitment, freedom, identity and limit. He creates "Pervasive Art" that spreads, uninvited, on the buildings of the slums around Paris, on the walls in the Middle-East, on the broken bridges in Africa or the favelas in Brazil. People who often live with the bare minimum discover something absolutely unnecessary. And they don't just see it, they make it. Some elderly women become models for a day; some kids turn artists for a week. In that Art scene, there is no stage to separate the actors from the spectators.


above: examples of JR's previous projects

After these local exhibitions, the images are transported to London, New York, Berlin or Amsterdam where people interpret them in the light of their own personal experience.

As he remains anonymous and doesn't explain his huge full frame portraits of people making faces, JR leaves the space empty for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/interpreter. He intends his work to inspire and raise questions.

A big thank you to both JR and Street Art News for the wonderful images, many of which I cropped and altered for visibility.

NYC Ballet
JR 

The 2014 Zeiss Art Calendar by Mary McCartney Starring Alec Baldwin and Gemma Arterton.

Photographer Mary McCartney, the daughter of music legend Paul McCartney, has shot the fifth edition of the Zeiss Art Calendar. Starring American actor Alec Baldwin and British Actress  Gemma Arterton posing together at New York landmarks, it's called “Moments in the City,” and is being distributed to clients of Zeiss, which makes a variety of camera lenses, this month.


above photo of Mary McCartney by Simon Abboud

Using a 35 millimeter camera with Zeiss lenses*, Mary shot all the images in black and white. Taking advantage of the lens, she shot wide shots, close ups and other varied angles.

Below are all the images from the 2014 Zeiss Art Calendar including front and back cover, followed by a video of Mary discussing the project, a link to an exclusive "Behind The Scenes" video, the press release and more information- courtesy of Zeiss and Mary McCartney.
















Outtakes:



*Mary McCartney used the Distagon T* 2,8/15 ZF.2, Distagon T* 2/25 ZF.2, Distagon T* 1,4/35, Planar T* 1,4/50 ZF.2, Planar T* 1,4/85 ZF.2, Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 ZF.2, Biogon T*2.8/25 ZM und C Sonnar T* 1.5/50 ZM.

Mary discusses shooting the calendar in the video below:


And a Behind The Scenes look at the shoot from Mary McCartney herself can be seen here on Vimeo.

The press release:
The ZEISS Art Calendar 2014, HAMBURG/Germany, 22.10.2013.



The House of Photography at the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany, provided the backdrop for the presentation of the 2014 ZEISS Art Calendar on 21 October 2013. Mary McCartney staged the calendar under the theme "Moments in the City." The photographer with the big name and expressive imagery accompanied Hollywood stars Alec Baldwin and Gemma Arterton as they experienced very special moments in New York City. In Manhattan the protagonist from The Aviator, Getaway and Blue Jasmine (a Woody Allen production) and the actress from the James Bond flick Quantum of Solace and action film Hansel and Gretel wallowed in the magic of the metropolis and imbibed the charm of outstanding sites and locations.

In scenes that focus on the very special atmosphere of each individual location, Mary McCartney shows how the couple is bewitched by these fascinating surroundings: in the aura exuded by the Metropolitan Museum or at the top of the Empire State Building.



"The striking photographs by Mary McCartney enchant the viewer with their astounding clarity and discrete intensity. They make a strong impression in this fifth issue of our art calendar series," says Jörg Nitschke, Head of Corporate Communications.

The ZEISS Art Calendar is devoted exclusively to the customers and friends of the company. It was for them, and them only, that it was created by the artist, only they will receive it as a limited edition – underscoring how highly the company values its customers and those special moments linking it with them.


above photo of the unveiling by Backstage Berlin

The text below is courtesy of the Zeiss Camera Lens Blog:

A man, a woman. A couple in front of the camera in a popular place. It sounds like a simple concept, but it requires talent. This concept has delighted the friends and customers of ZEISS who have received the ZEISS Art Calendar in previous years. For the fifth time in a row, the premium lens manufacturer followed this approach again. For the 2014 calendar, entitled “Moments in the City“, ZEISS engaged Mary McCartney, who is known for her expressive and very personal portrait photography. “When I was approached, I already knew that ZEISS brought out a calendar each year. I really liked the idea, because as a photographer ZEISS has an absolutely excellent reputation,” says McCartney about her motivation to help style the calendar.



Next, McCartney thought about how to give shape to the calendar theme. For the couple she chose the well-known Hollywood actors Alec Baldwin (“Aviator“, “Getaway“, “Blue Jasmine“) and Gemma Arterton (“A Quantum of Solace“, “Hansel and Gretel“). For the location she selected New York City. “The basic concept of the calendar was explained to me. Until now it always relied on a man and woman as a couple. I developed this idea further: this man and this woman have just met each other. It is early in the morning. They have just come back from a black tie party which they were both invited to the night before. She is from England and he is from New York. And he invites her to explore the city with him,” explains McCartney.

Though digital photography is ubiquitous these days, Mary McCartney wanted to capture the charm of New York, and in particular Manhattan in the early morning light, in a classic, old-fashioned way. She therefore photographed on black-and-white analog film, which gives her images a timeless feel. Looking at her images, connoisseurs of traditional black-and-white photography will be reminded a bit of the legendary images by Andreas Feininger (“New York in the Forties“).

For her photographic work, McCartney had a wide range of the latest ZEISS lenses at her disposal: Distagon T* 2,8/15 ZF.2, Distagon T* 2/25 ZF.2, Distagon T* 1,4/35, Planar T* 1,4/50 ZF.2, Planar T* 1,4/85 ZF.2, Apo Sonnar T* 2/135 ZF.2, Biogon T*2,8/25 ZM and C Sonnar T* 1,5/50 ZM. During the shooting, all eight lenses were used, depending on her preferences with regard to perspective. She used the classic portrait lens Planar T* 1,4/85 as well as the C Sonnar T* 1.5/50. This lens is based on the classic Sonnar T* 1,5/50 of the 1930s and, thanks to its harmonious bokeh and attractive 3D images, fit very well with the analog technology selected by McCartney.

“I really enjoyed working with ZEISS lenses. Together with the 400 ISO TRI-X black-and-white film I used, images were created that really bring out the lenses’ imaging performance regarding sharpness and tonal values. During the photo shoot, I used various different lenses with different focal lengths and image perspectives, from a wide angle to intimate close-ups.”


above: During the presentation of the images in the ZEISS Art Calendar 2014 in Hamburg: Photographer Mary McCartney (middle) with Dr. Michael Kaschke, CEO of Carl Zeiss AG (right), and Anke Degenhard from the agency Crossover.

A select group of invited guests was able to experience the extraordinary intensity of McCartney’s images live during a festive “First View” event with the photographer herself on October 21, 2013 in the House of Photography in the Deichtorhallen exhibition halls in Hamburg, Germany. For Michael Kaschke, CEO of Carl Zeiss AG, it was a more than adequate setting: “The importance of the ZEISS Art Calendar lies in its special combination of art and technology. On the one hand, we make high-quality lenses that photographers can use to make fantastic pictures. And vice versa, these pictures motivate our employees to continue developing technology.” Once again, this year’s exclusive calendar, which appears in a limited edition, is for the friends and customers of ZEISS. They will receive the calendar as an annual gift.

Zeiss
Mary McCartney