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The Origins of JonOne: From the Streets of Harlem to the International Scene.
John Perello, aka JonOne, was born in 1963 in New York City to a family of Dominican descent. He grew up in the multi-ethnic neighborhood of Harlem, where the grayness of the city contrasted with his innate passion for color.
In the 1970s and 1980s, New York's graffiti scene was booming, and young JonOne was immediately captured by it. Fascinated by the vibrant energy of the New York subway, which he called “a museum in motion”, he began making his mark on train cars with the tag “Jon156”.
Together with other writers, he founded 156 All Starz Crew, a collective that became a landmark in the underground writing scene.
Despite his strong ties to graffiti culture, JonOne felt the need to evolve and go beyond the rigid rules of writing. The advice of renowned graffiti artist A-One led him, in 1987, to move to Paris, a city that offered him new opportunities for artistic experimentation.
Here he came into contact with innovative creative environments, including the Hôpital Ephémère, an abandoned hospital transformed into an art center. This transition marks a turning point in his career: he gradually abandons urban surfaces to transfer his art to canvas, resulting in an original pictorial language that blends graffiti art with abstract expressionism.
JonOne's art is distinguished by the expressive intensity of his creations: pure energy, dynamic gestures and a skillful use of light, capable of transforming space through a riot of color. The bright and contrasting colors, inherited from his Dominican roots, blend with the impulsiveness of writing and the fluidity of color applied with gestural techniques.
His works quickly attract the attention of collectors and gallery owners, intrigued by his emerging talent. One of his canvases sold at auction for a considerable sum for the time, an event that marked a decisive turning point in his career.
Today JonOne is a leading figure in French contemporary art, with exhibitions in the world's most important galleries and museums. His reinterpretation of Eugène Delacroix's “Liberty Leading the People” was exhibited at the Palais Bourbon, seat of the French Parliament.
JonOne Between Dripping and Graffiti: A Bridge with Jackson Pollock
JonOne's artistic evolution leads him to experiment with a free, gestural pictorial language in which graffiti writing is mixed with the dripping technique made famous by Jackson Pollock.
Pollock's action painting, in which the artist's gesture becomes the focus of the work, finds an affinity in JonOne's work, which pours explosive energy onto the canvas through overlapping layers of color and chaotic calligraphy.
Far from the hyper-coded world of writing, JonOne conceives of painting as a spontaneous and dynamic act: each work is an abstract improvisation in which rhythm and harmony emerge from gesture and color composition. Like Pollock, JonOne “enters” his canvas, inhabiting it with marks and colors that transform the surface into a visual vortex of energy and movement.
An emblematic example of this stylistic fusion is “Blank Stares” (2018), a painting in which dripping joins urban calligraphy, creating an interweaving of forms, contrasts, and symmetries. If for Pollock the act of painting was a ritual, for JonOne it is a dance of color, a controlled process that, while appearing chaotic, conceals a mathematical balance and a precise artistic intention.
Major Collaborations: JonOne and International Brands
JonOne's powerful visual language has caught the attention of major international brands, leading him to collaborate with prestigious fashion, design and lifestyle brands.
- JonOne x Lacoste L!ve: The collaboration with Lacoste saw JonOne reinterpret the famous crocodile logo, transforming it into a vibrant and abstract work that celebrates the freedom of artistic expression.
- JonOne x Air France: In 2015, JonOne signed an exclusive work for Air France, decorating an airplane with his signature color play, symbolizing a journey of creativity.
- JonOne x Guerlain: JonOne's art meets haute perfumery with a collaboration for Guerlain, in which the bottle of the legendary perfume “La Petite Robe Noire” is transformed into a contemporary canvas.
- JonOne x Tumi: The collection in collaboration with luxury luggage brand Tumi saw the artist apply his signature style to designer accessories, making them unique pieces.
- JonOne x Hennessy: In 2017, JonOne collaborated with Hennessy on a special limited edition of the famous cognac bottle, reinterpreting the label with his dynamic and abstract artistic language.
The Legion of Honor Recognition.
JonOne's impact on the international art scene was consecrated in 2015, when the French Republic awarded him the Legion of Honor, the country's highest civilian honor.
An honor that underscores not only the artistic value of his work, but also his contribution to the spread of urban culture and freedom of expression through painting.
JonOne's Art between Energy and Freedom
JonOne has been able to transform the language of graffiti art into a universal art form, able to transcend the barriers of street art to conquer galleries and private collections around the world.
His painting is an ode to creative freedom, an explosion of color and movement that continues to captivate international audiences. With a career in constant evolution and an ever-growing impact on the contemporary art scene, JonOne remains an artist capable of reinventing himself, keeping intact that energetic charge that has made him unique since his beginnings in New York.