Very early on, JonOne could not hold back his expressionist temperament and was one of the few to break the rigid rules of the graffiti tradition. From his innermost being, he felt the urge to no longer spray walls with lettering or characters, but to design them with colourful organic-abstract forms. His outburst can be described in retrospect as innovative and disrupting, but in the early days his art was neither understood nor appreciated.
The regularity of repeating his tag over and over again, is not monotonous, in contrary, it is divers, complex and rich. Eventually the writing develops into a continuous abstract pattern within the beauty of infinity. This paired with the extreme brilliance of the colours used creates works of art that transcend the boundaries of the canvases and transfer their extraordinary radiance to the space and its viewers. His paintings are – Never the Same.
“Painting opened me up to myself, it allowed me to enter into communication with who I am.”
John ‘Jonone’ Perello, 2022.
As an autodidact JonOne had no fine art education. Through obsessively continuing his painting JonOne remained true to his need for artists expression. Following the own path is a life goal guided by devotion, passion and discipline overcoming the deepest fears and most destructive doubts. From a biographical point of view his path was colored by different tones, marked by various actions and influenced by different cultures. His journey through the urban jungle led him to his artistic essence, which still keeps on reverberating.
Through his dynamic life story, he learned that each moment is different, which makes JonOne’s inspiration filled by his experiences and emotions inexhaustible. Each of his paintings is an abstract improvisation, and each radiates the artist’s life-affirming attitude.
Tania di Brita
Installation view
Av. de Beauregard 1
1700 Fribourg
Switzerland
Only on appointment
T +41 79 301 11 37