JonOne

"I have received no arts education. When I tagged trains in New York, I could not imagine that one day I would express myself on canvas. What really got me was the tag to see other painting graffiti all over town. The school to which I was very strict. And so boring! I remember at the time, those on the street were free. I did not want what America offered me: a job, a nice suit and a nice house. I met A-One (Anthony Clark from 1964 to 2001). He used to hang out with Jean-Michel Basquiat (Brooklyn, New York, December 22, 1960 - August 12, 1988). A-one was the link between the street and the world of art. He traveled in Europe and returned with a lot of money, just through his art. I listened to his travel books and my eyes burned with envy. At that time in New York, I was like many today: I was hanging in front of my building. In these times, I either I did not go out of my neighborhood.

With A-One, I began to visit exhibitions, to feed my vision of what was happening in this world.

I started to take my work seriously, not to consider it as vandalism but simply as art."

- JonOne

SOLO

2023

17 Mars 2023 – 16 Juin 2023 – Rosewood – Thai Love – Exposition personnelle – Bangkok, Thailand

2021

21 Mars 2021 –  24 Mai 2021 – Rasson Art Gallery – Exposition personnelle – Knokke, Belgique

JonOne (born John Andrew Perello, 1963), also known as Jon156, is an American graffiti artist.

Originally from New York, he lives and works in Paris.

JonOne was born in New York's Harlem neighborhood to parents from the Dominican Republic.

Growing up in Harlem, his introduction to street art began when he would see graffiti and tags on subway cars and city walls.

When he was 17 years old he entered the world of graffiti with his childhood friend "White Man," tagging his name Jon with the numbers 156 on walls and trains in his neighborhood.

JonOne said, "The subway is a museum that runs through the city."

In 1984, JonOne founded the graffiti group 156 All Starz, in order to bring together their passion for painting trains at night and to help forget about their problems, including drug use.

At this time, he met the artist Bando, who was living in New York.

Following an invitation from Bando, JonOne moved to Paris in 1987.

"When I arrived in Paris in 1987, people were a little disappointed (laughs) I came from New York, so they saw me as the representative of New York graffiti. While it's true, I am primarily Jonone and basta! What I did was not representative of what they could imagine, I was more free and technically, I was in the imagination. As I had the technique, I could leave it behind me and create, combine hundreds of information, graphics take shortcuts while leaving me with the flow. Today, I belong to the old school. I work in a comfortable, at ease with lettering or anything else. I no longer have to prove anything: my past speaks for me. On the other hand, I did not want to spend my time on the claim."

- JonOne

JonOne made a name for himself in Parisian artistic circles through his work on canvas and the exhibitions he held, including one in 1990 at Gallery 45 Gleditsch in Berlin and the exhibition Graffiti Paris, at rue Chapon in Paris.

At an Artcurial auction on June 6, 2007, Match Point, a large canvas by JonOne made at the Hospital Ephemeral in 1993, was bought by a New York collector for €24,800, a record sale for the artist.

This auction was also the highest bid ever obtained in France for a work of graffiti art.

Since 2013 JonOne enriched its creation by collaborating with Didier Marien from the Boccara Gallery on an important series of street art rugs.

"The way I am able to maintain my sanity and protect myself is through my art. And the process of painting has always been something that I enjoy doing, and that, nobody can take away from me. I protect that joy I have from painting."

– JonOne, In an interview with The Trops "“Painting opens me to myself, it allows me to enter into communication with who I am”"

- JonOne

JonOne began his work as a painter on canvas in a workshop at the Hospital Ephemeral, a literal hospital building that became a squatting place for artists, located in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.

Here, he painted with the artists A-One, Sharp, Ash (Victor Ash), Jayone and Skki.

2020

2020

26 novembre 2020 –  23 Janvier 2021 – Galerie Provost-Hacker – Exposition personnelle – Lille, France

12 novembre 2020 –  22 Novembre 2020 – ArtTime – Exposition personnelle – Dakar, Sénégal, Afrique

9 octobre 2020 – 25 octobre 2020 – Les Docks X Galerie David Pluskwa – Unlimited – Exposition personnelle – Marseille, France

1er octobre 2020 – 17 octobre 2020 – Galerie Veyssière Sigma – Jonone – Exposition personnelle – Tours, France

24 septembre 2020 – 24 octobre 2020 – Galerie Rive Gauche – Marcel Strouk – Journal Intime – Exposition personnelle – Paris, France

14 septembre 2020 –  19 septembre 2020 – Kolly Gallery – Wedding Planners – Exposition personnelle – Zürich, Suisse

10 septembre 2020 – 24 octobre 2020 – Underdogs Gallery – The Border – Exposition personnelle – Lisbonne, Portugal

10 septembre 2020 – 13 septembre 2020 – Art Paris – Galery Rabouan Moussion – Exposition collective – Paris, France

23 mai 2020 – 31 juillet 2020 –  Galerie Rabouan Moussion –  Infinity – Exposition personnelle – Paris, France