JonOne

JonOne (John Andrew Perello, born in 1963 in Harlem, New York) is an American artist of Dominican descent, based in France. A product of the 1980s New York graffiti scene, he began painting in the New York subway under the name Jon156, after 156th Street, where he grew up. In 1984 he founded the 156 All Starz collective.

In 1987 JonOne moved to Paris, where he has lived ever since. He spent five years at the Hôpital éphémère, an artists' squat in the 18th arrondissement, transferring to canvas what he had been painting on walls. His work then moved from graffiti towards a more gestural painting, influenced by Abstract Expressionism. He walks on his canvases and covers them with splashes of paint.

Having become a major figure of street art in Europe, JonOne was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 2015. The same year, the Assemblée nationale unveiled his painting "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité", after Delacroix's "La Liberté guidant le peuple", which La Poste reproduced as a stamp in September. Air France commissioned him to decorate a Boeing 777, and he has collaborated with Guerlain, Lacoste, the Daum crystal works and later the Gien faience factory. In 2023, La Piscine in Roubaix devoted the exhibition "JonOne, la tentation du décor" to him, a short walk from the studio he opened in the city.

His work is characterised by dynamic compositions, layers of tags and bright colours, and spontaneous gestures that give a sense of constant movement.