Private Island, Boston,

This edition honors a pasting from 10 years ago. 

In 2015, a man appeared in the sky above Boston. He stood on a raft suspended in the air, more than 500 feet above the city. For months he remained adrift in a sea of clouds reflected in the glass façade of 200 Clarendon Street (formerly the John Hancock Tower).

With this pasting, JR invited the city to look up and wonder, to pause during their commute and contemplate its meaning. The tower was not simply a backdrop but an integral piece of the artwork itself. The reflective glass of the building became a mirror, as the façade turned into a sea and the cityscape the horizon. 

A decade later, Atelier JR returns to the skyline, now on paper. The new lithograph,Private Island, By day, Boston, USA, 2025, honours the spirit of JR’s original installation and its curator, Pedro Alonzo, who in 2014 brought the project to life, and who this year inaugurated Boston’s first Public Art Triennial.

The edition revisits the suspended figure: at height, in stillness, between architecture and sky. It reminds us that art can appear where we least expect it. A glance upwards can introduce a new perspective and invite a moment of wonder when a city of steel and glass becomes an ocean and a simple photograph becomes a quiet invitation.

We invite you to carry the visual story of JR’s intervention into your own space with this limited edition release.