JONONE

Early Years

John ‘JonOne’ Perello was born in Harlem, New York. Hip-hop culture and graffiti art were prevalent in JonOne’s neighbourhood as he was growing up. JonOne would see vibrant graffiti on city walls and subway trains everyday as a young boy. When he became a teenager, he began tagging the streets of New York with his own graffiti.

Throughout the 1980s, JonOne started to gain a reputation and assembled his own tagging crew. In 1984, he founded the graffiti group 156 All Starz and became engaged with the New York arts scene, spending time at Studio 54 alongside artists Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. During this time, he also met French-American graffiti artist Bando.

In 1987, JonOne moved to Paris, where he began to experiment with painting graffiti on canvas using oil. He swiftly became popular and began to exhibit his work in a number of commercial art galleries throughout France and Europe.

JonOne Artworks

Not dissimilar to the work of Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, JonOne’s graffiti works depict multi-chromatic abstract compositions. Since the 1980s, JonOne has captured movement on canvas with layers of gestural brushstrokes that drip and splash over his original graffiti name tag. Despite being on canvas, JonOne’s artwork maintains the same unrestricted dynamism as his original street graffiti works. JonOne’s powerful compositions reveal the artist’s grasp of both urban cityscapes and contemporary art spaces.

In 2017, JonOne exhibited his artwork in a seminal exhibition at the Montresso Foundation in Morocco. Titled A Dream Longer Than Night, the exhibition presented over 30 years’ worth of JonOne’s work. The show demonstrated JonOne’s artistic development from street artist to museum artist and highlighted how his artwork pushes the boundaries of what street art can be.

For this exhibition, JonOne created brightly coloured oil paintings composed of smears, scrawls, and splatters. JonOne’s energetic paintings mimic his urban spray paintings, illustrating how graffiti has the ability to thrill and inspire regardless of whether it is displayed in a museum or on urban city walls.

Public Commissions

In 2014, JonOne collaborated with Perrier to create vibrant packaging designs for the French brand. JonOne’s abstract artwork was featured on limited-edition Perrier bottles and on street murals across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Los Angeles to promote the campaign.

Awards and Accolades

JonOne has collaborated with a number of reputable brands including Air France, Lacoste, Guerlain, and Hennessy. His artwork has been featured in several established galleries and museums, including the Fondation Cartier and the Grand Palais in Paris.

In 2015, JonOne was admitted to France’s Legion of Honour. To celebrate, JonOne painted Liberté Egalité Fraternité (2015) for the Palais Bourbon, the seat of the French National Assembly.

Exhibitions

JonOne has exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions. Selected solo exhibitions include JonOne, Mo J Gallery, Seoul (2021); Vibrations, Wunderkammern Gallery, Milan (2021); Color Blast, Galerie Very Yes, Saint-Pierre (2021); The Border, Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon (2020); Infinity, Galerie Rabouan Moussion, Paris (2020); Countdown, Kolly Gallery, Zurich (2019); Blue Diamonds, Gallery 32, Tel Aviv (2018); No Rules, Galerie Rive Gauche-Marcel Strouk, Paris (2017); Urban Legacy, Fabien Castanier Gallery, Los Angeles (2016); Staring To The Stars, Galerie Magda Danysz, Shanghai (2015).

Selected group exhibitions include Trailblazers, Kolly Gallery, Zurich (2021); Spring Time, Galerie Provost-Hacker, Lille (2021); Liberté Chérie, Galerie David Pluskwa, Marseille (2021); Art Paris, Galerie Rabouan Moussion, Paris (2021); Spend The Summer With Us In La Baule, Galerie Rabouan Moussion, La Baule (2019); Shapes & Shades, Galerie Martine Ehmer, Brussels (2019); Flash Back, Galerie Le Feuvre & Roze, Paris (2019); Urban Art Fair, galerie du jour agnès b, Paris (2018); Inédite(s), Galerie David Pluskwa, Marseille (2016).

Website and Instagram

JonOne’s website can be found here and his Instagram can be found here.

Phoebe Bradford | Ocula | 2022