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In the contemporary art scene, few artists succeed in merging the energy of urban writing with the refinement of pictorial abstraction as effectively as JonOne.
With his works—bursts of color and movement—he takes us to the heart of a gestural expression rooted in the streets, yet ambitiously reaching toward the great masters of Informal Art and Action Painting.
From the Streets to the Galleries
John Andrew Perello, known as JonOne, was born in New York in 1963 to a family of Dominican origin. He grew up in Harlem, where he encountered hip hop culture and began his artistic journey as a writer painting on subway trains. His pseudonym was born in this context: “Jon” was his nickname, “One” the identifying number typical of the New York graffiti scene.
In the 1980s, he founded the collective 156 All Starz, a group of street artists sharing a passion for lettering, free art, and experimentation. But it was in 1987 that his artistic path changed dramatically: JonOne moved to Paris, a city that embraced him and marked his definitive evolution from graffiti writer to painter.
Gesture as Language
JonOne’s canvases are true explosions of energy. His works do not depict figurative subjects but rather a state of mind, a communicative urgency, an inner rhythm expressed through gesture. Brushstrokes, dripping, overlapping and layered lines create dynamic compositions that strongly recall the works of Jackson Pollock and Hans Hartung, while maintaining an unmistakably urban and contemporary soul.
Color plays a central role in his practice: vivid, saturated, constantly interacting with shapes and background—color, in JonOne’s work, becomes living matter, pure vibration. His free, unrestrained painting gesture tells a personal yet universal story—one that speaks of freedom, identity, and belonging.
Between Graffiti and Abstraction
What makes JonOne’s work unique is his ability to synthesize two seemingly distant worlds: on one hand, graffiti culture, with its unwritten rules and rebellious spirit; on the other, lyrical abstraction, with its formal language and introspective depth.
JonOne never denies his underground roots—on the contrary, he elevates them in an artistic journey that has brought him to exhibit in some of the world’s most prestigious museums and galleries.
JonOne on wunderkammern.shop
Wunderkammern, always attentive to the intersections between urban art and contemporary languages, offers an exclusive selection of JonOne’s works.
Each piece is a fragment of his creative universe, an invitation to be swept away by the energy of color and the power of gesture.
