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French artist JR revealed giant art installations in Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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One installation depicts an Olympic diver.
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Another installation depicts a giant figure jumping over a high-rise building.
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This installation depicts Ali Mohamed Younes Idris, a Sudanese high jumper who was unable to participate in the 2016 Games due to an injury.
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"He still came to Rio and jumps over a building in Flamengo," JR says of Idris in an Instagram post.
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He has been teasing the project for several weeks on his Instagram account.
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To date, JR has revealed four massive installations, each of which pay tribute to Olympic athletes: a swimmer in Guanabara Bay, a diver at Barra Beach, a crescent moon atop a residence for artists, and a high-jumper bending back over a building in the Flamengo neighborhood.
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This image depicts the swimmer in Guanabara Bay.
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Previously, JR created this large-scale installation at Paris' Louvre Museum in May.
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The installation was titled 'JR au Louvre.'
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He covered the museum's glass pyramid -- designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei -- in one of his signature black and white photographs.
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The installation draws attention to the architecture that lies behind the pyramid.
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JR's work has been exhibited around the world. His "Women Are Heroes" project photographed women and pasted the images in visible places within their communities, and further afield.
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The project ran from 2008 to 2014, when 2,600 strips of paper featuring the faces of women from around the world were pasted onto a container ship in La Havre, France, before it set sail for Malaysia.
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The New York Times commissioned this piece, called "Elmar", for the launch of their Walking New York issue in 2015.
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JR and his friend Marco went to the Middle East in 2005 and captured a series of photographs of Palestinian and Israeli people they met on their travels. In 2007, JR paired these photos face to face and plastered the images on walls in cities across Israel and the Palestinian territories. This photo was taken in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
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JR showcased 2,500 portraits from around the world to help celebrate the newly refurbished Pantheon in Paris in 2014. Faces lined the floor, walls and exteriors of the secular temple where many famous French people are buried.
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JR took this photo of young French-Malian man Ladj Ly's as part of his "Portrait of a Generation" project. At first glance the man looks as though he's pointing a gun, but it is in fact a camera -- the photo challenges the ideas of clichés in visual culture.
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The "Unframed - Ellis Island" project was a series of installations built within abandoned buildings on Ellis Island. Located next to the Statue of Liberty in New York, the island acted as an entry point into America for millions of immigrants from 1892 to 1954.
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JR created two large works for New York City Ballet's Art Series program, that invites contemporary artists into the Lincoln Center. This image is a massive trompe l'oeil rendering of an eye created with life-size photos of NYCB dancers on the floor of the Promenade.
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Expo 2 Rue is one of JR's earlier projects. After finding a camera in the Paris Metro, the artist began to document his own graffiti as well as the work of other artists. At 17 he began pasting photocopies of these photographs onto outdoor walls, turning the city's streets into open galleries for everyone to see.

Story highlights

French artist JR has created four large-scale installations for the 2016 Olympics

He describes the structures as his "craziest" project yet

August 19 is World Photo Day

CNN  — 

Rio de Janeiro has been taken over by giants. A massive high jumper floats over a highrise building, while in the city’s Barra neighborhood, a colossal figure glides gracefully into the seawater.

Or at least, that’s what French street artist JR wants you to see.

In celebration of this year’s Olympic Games, the artist, who is widely known for his public art installations, has covered the streets of the host city in large-scale art installations. Each depicts an Olympic athlete turning the city into their own personal playground.

The elusive artist is known for his large-scale installations. He has traveled the globe for his Inside Out Project, which has covered walls and buildings in 129 countries.

Most recently, he completely covered a famous Paris landmark in his signature black-and-white imagery.

Now, in Rio, the artist has created what he describes as his “craziest piece” of art yet.

Return to Rio

JR had been teasing the project for several weeks on social media, explaining that the huge installations – which are each supported by layers of scaffolding – have been in progress for almost a year.

Art or amusement park? Tremendous public installations that will boggle your mind

To date, he has revealed three completed installations: a swimmer in Guanabara Bay, a diver in Barra, and a high jumper bending back over a building in the Flamengo neighborhood.

The image of the jumper, he explains, is a tribute to Ali Mohamed Younes Idris, a Sudanese athlete who is unable to participate in the 2016 Games due to an injury.

“He still came to Rio and jumps over a building in Flamengo,” JR said in an Instagram post.

This is not JR’s first time creating an art installation in Rio. In 2008, his “Women are Heroes” project showcased the faces of local women across the city’s slum neighborhoods, known as favelas.