French Street Artist JR Puts Up Mural in Echo Park

Forget that trip to the museum:  the best place to see art these days is right outside your front door.

Now French street artist and TED award-winner JR has embellished a wall right here in Echo Park.  Thursday afternoon, JR and his crew added the latest installment of his project The Wrinkles of the City to a brick building at 1759 Glendale Blvd.

Traffic whizzed by as the nine member part-French, part-Angeleno wheatpaste crew navigated four stories of scaffolding to get the image just right.

By noon, a colossal black and white photo of an elderly man with long hair and beard was almost complete--and the mural will almost certainly be ready in time for its rush hour debut. Just don't forget to drive carefully!

In recent weeks, new artworks by legendary British street artist Banksy have been popping up everywhere from billboards in Hollywood to tankers at the beach. But Banksy has yet to come to Echo Park.

Check out our images of JR's new mural in the accompanying slide show.