JonOne - Credit Gwen LeBras
Born to a Dominican mother and father, JonOne - whose real name is John Perello - was born in New York in 1963. A true New Yorker, John grew up in the Heights, a mixed-race neighborhood in the northern part of Manhattan. Like many kids of his generation, his life telescoped with the emergence of the Graffiti culture, which swept through the streets of northern New York in the early 1980s. Initiated by his childhood friend White Man, he began to tag his name "Jon," followed by 156 (his street number) on walls and subway trains. At this time, he met A-One (Anthony Clark 1964-2001), a figure of New York street art who was already a spectacular success internationally. This meeting was an actual trigger. Inspired by his mentor's travel stories and madly in love with freedom, John held a series of exhibitions and refined his view of the world. What he considered until then as a form of aesthetic vandalism will finally become his profession.
In 1984, Jon founded the graffiti collective 156 All Starz and became JonOne. In 1985 he began painting on canvas and persisted in reproducing what would become the founding element of his unique style: the representation of a graffitied subway train whose speed generates streaks of color. This attention to the agitation and movement of color rather than figuration became his trademark. Finally, following a decisive meeting with the artist and record producer Bando (real name Philippe Lehman), the self-taught graffiti artist JonOne arrived in Paris in 1987. He met the famous art dealer Cornette de Saint Cyr, who allowed him to set up shop at the Hôpital éphémère, a squat in the heart of the Hôpital Bretonneau. There, he pursued his activities on canvas in the company of the great names of the time, such as A-One, Sharp, Ash (Victor Ash), JayOne, and Skki. He also met Agnès B., who bought two paintings from him, sealing the beginning of a long friendship. Gradually, from exhibition to exhibition, the child of the suburbs of New York acquires his letters of nobility in the Parisian artistic microcosm.
In 1990, he was exhibited at the Gallery Gleditsch 45 in Berlin, then in 1991, he took part in the Paris Graffiti exhibition on rue Chapon in Paris. In November 1992, he had one of his first solo exhibitions at Monaco's very chic B5/Speerstra Gallery. From then on, he continued exhibiting worldwide, from Tokyo to Monaco, Paris, Geneva, New York, Hong Kong, and Brussels.
Self-described as an "abstract expressionist graffiti painter," JonOne draws his inspiration from the works of masters as diverse as Miró, Kandinsky, Matisse, and American abstract expressionists such as Pollock, Kooning, Joan Mitchell, and Robert Motherwell. True explosions of color, his paintings are improvisations that ignore the void: his graffiti paintings that breathe the joy of life fill the spaces. Thanks to this unique style, JonOne quickly gained favor on the market, where his price peaked in the early 2000s. At an auction at Artcurial on June 6, 2007, Balle de match, a large-format canvas (214.50 × 190 cm) created at the Hôpital éphémère in 1993, was snapped up by a New York collector for €24,800, marking a world record for the artist. At the time, this auction was the highest ever obtained in France for graffiti art. Today, JonOne's works sell for tens of thousands of euros (€128,500 for work at Artcurial in 2013).
A talented artist, JonOne is also a man with a heart who does not hesitate to commit himself to the most disadvantaged. January 22, 2011, marks the beginning of his collaboration with the Fondation Abbé Pierre. Jon created a monumental fresco in the Square des Deux-Nèthes in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. This fresco represents the face of Abbé Pierre as it appeared during the "Winter Call of '54" this cry from the heart was launched by the founder of the Emmaus movement on the airwaves of Radio Luxembourg following the tragic death of a homeless woman who died of cold in the street. The artist's commitment does not stop there, and, in January 2013, he revamped Eric Cantona's Rolls Royce, which was then put up for sale by Artcurial to benefit the Fondation Abbé Pierre for 125,000 euros.
Very attached to France, where he has resided for many years, JonOne has introduced his art to the heart of national institutions. On January 21, 2015, a work by Jon entitled "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité," measuring 300 x 220 cm, was inaugurated at the National Assembly in the Salon des Mariannes. A few weeks later, the painter was distinguished as a Knight of the Legion of Honor.
JonOne has also collaborated with the most prestigious companies, including Leclerc, Lacoste, Guerlain, Perrier, Thalys, Agnès B, Air France, and Tumi, for many years. These collaborations offer the artist the opportunity to be noticed by real coups, such as the inaugural Paris-New York flight of the Air France Boeing 777 in JonOne's colors in 2015 or the creation, in 2016, of the iconic bottle with Bees for Guerlain in limited edition.
A confirmed workaholic, JonOne continues to multiply projects and exhibitions worldwide. After a unique performance in the heart of the Forbidden City, the artist is turning to Africa in 2020 with a first solo exhibition in Abidjan with Galerie Studer. In November 2020, JonOne took over the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar in a solo exhibition with the Studer gallery, sponsored by the President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall. More recently, after an in-situ performance at the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, JonOne signed in 2021 his first exhibition in the United Arab Emirates in Dubai with the Galerie Studer.