Following his exhibition in late 2020 at Galerie Veyssière, JonOne returned to Touraine upon special invitation by the Departmental Council. From Thursday 12 May to Sunday 28 August 2022, the painter took up residency at Hôtel Goüin to complete a major installation entitled The Big Takeover, an ambitious endeavor and an exuberant display, intended to appeal to a wide audience. The event featured installations and a canvas of imposing dimensions. Its colorful momentum and improvisation of expressionist and abstract forms contrast with the historical prestige of Hôtel Goüin, a splendid 15th century residence, resulting in a unique solo show.

“We all owe something to Africa. This is why “Heritage” came naturally. It is my connection with Africa and my Caribbean roots too. There is a long history of slavery there. I am here in Senegal, not far from the island of Gorée. This makes sense to me. We are all Africans.”

Organized by the two founders of the Ivorian gallery Art Time, this exhibition marked the second anniversary of the Senegalese Museum of Black Civilizations. JonOne created new works for the occasion, including several colorful canvases and ten surfboards redesigned and customized in Dakar. A traditional canoe tagged by the artist is also exhibited as one of the event’s key artworks.

“The world of board… I think today we have to slide more. I just bought a boat. Before I painted subways in New York. When I saw that they painted boats like that, I dreamed of making a boat.”

“Going to the Forbidden City has been a big dream of mine since I was very young. It’s incredible!”

For the 55th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-French diplomatic relations, a major project was organized to honor the cultural exchanges of artists from both countries. Held in Beijing, the theme of the event was “The Doves of Peace on the Great Wall”. JonOne was invited to come and paint at the Palace Museum, the imperial palace of China’s Ming and Qing dynasties. It was the first ever performance by a foreign artist in the Forbidden City.

During his residency, the artist created three unique works, incorporating a strong Chinese influence into his signature style. These works are now part of the Gao’s Fine Art private collection.

In Rabat in 2018, the National Museum Foundation hosted an exhibition by JonOne entitled Illuminating the Future at the prestigious Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. With the support of the Montresso Foundation and upon special invitation from the Moroccan Ministry of Culture, JonOne created a monumental work at the top of the tower crowning the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco.

This artwork, spanning an impressive 300 square meters, is the largest ever painted by the artist and was unveiled on the 13th of November. Inspired by his time spent in the Kingdom, JonOne was captivated by the work of contemporary artists like Mahjoub Ben Bella, resulting in a work that beautifully combines street art and Arabic calligraphy. This meeting of Western artistic practice and ancient calligraphy gives birth to a unique and awe-inspiring work of art.

As part of MP2018 (Marseille, European Capital of Culture), a three-day live painting was organized at the Palais de la Bourse, resulting in a 5 x 15m fresco. The exhibition, put together by JonOne and Marseille gallery owner David Pluskwa, was entitled ‘Abstracted Love’, marking the artist’s return to the city of Marseille.
Eighteen new works were created especially for the event, including this large-scale mural. In contrast with the venue’s Second Empire interiors, JonOne displayed some of his new paintings, inspired by the post-graffiti art of today and more importantly, by love itself.

A major patron of contemporary art in Morocco, the Montresso Foundation invited JonOne to create a highly expressive series of works. The artist found a wealth of inspiration in Morocco, pushing the possibilities of media to their limit. The paint often flees the canvas to scarper onto the floors and climb the walls of his atelier in Jardin Rouge. The relationships forged by the flow of the paint on the canvas highlight a certain automatism in the artist’s use of line, serving to break down the boundaries that separate art and life. The viewer can then simply enjoy the act of contemplation instead of merely focusing on what is immediately visible.
The works were displayed in a rich exhibition entitled “Un rêve plus long que la nuit” (“A Dream Longer than the Night”), in homage to a film by Niki de Saint-Phalle.

“It is not what is written that is important in my work: the writing, the letters, it is a pretext to be able to move on to another stage, the light, the color, the energy, the movement of the body. Behind my name we find my past, my present and my future.”

JonOne has matured in his practice without forgetting his origins: he defines himself as an abstract painter who uses the graphic language of the street. But when asked about his links with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, he today prefers to align himself with the likes of Raymond Hains, Jacques Villéglé, Christopher Wool or Ben.

This exhibition at the Clément Foundation marked the artist’s return to the Caribbean, the homeland of his parents. It allowed for a retrospective look at his career, from the first paintings of his Hôpital Éphemère era to his latest sculptural and oil works; here, we see the culmination of an artistic journey bursting with movement.

Alice Cazaux

Inaugurated in April 2017, the Montresso Foundation art space hosted the exhibition XXL#1 in partnership with the David Pluskwa Gallery. Through a series of large-format canvases, a sculpture and two installations, Cédrix Crespel, Fenx, Tilt and Jonone confront the concept of monumentality and present works mostly originating from Jardin Rouge, the Montresso Foundation’s artists’ residency launched some ten years ago just outside of Marrakech.

“I knew Montpellier and Carré Saint-Anne. I loved the volume and energy of this place. I didn’t hesitate for a second.”

The City of Montpellier, a bustling hub of street art, displayed JonOne’s work for the first time in a public exhibition space. The exhibition, named “Above and Below”, unveiled pieces specially designed to resonate with the monumentality of the deconsecrated church, which has housed a contemporary art space since the 1990s.

Large-scale works with colorful calligraphy were hung on the walls of Carré Saint-Anne, marking its first ever exhibition entirely devoted to street art.

Spurred on by his love of street art and seduced by JonOne’s customization of Eric Cantona’s Rolls Royce, Bernard Magrez initially invited the artist to repaint a Jaguar from his personal collection. From this commission was born a shared desire to host an exhibition in the magnificent Château Labottière.

The event honored the end of winter, the arrival of brighter days and with it, the return of color in all its splendor. JonOne therefore chose to create 35 artworks for “The King of Harlem”, all expressing his signature style, rich in color with its explosion of calligraphy.

This project also established a dialogue with the work of Maï Lucas. This exceptional photographer has been making art for two decades inspired by the culture of New York’s ghettos, the birthplace of JonOne’s artistic career.

The “King of Harlem” project was the artist’s first exhibition in an art center, offering an opportunity to display his work in a neoclassical setting that struck a perfect contrast with his vitality, originality and origins.

In January 2015, in the Salon des Mariannes room of Palais-Bourbon, the President of the National Assembly inaugurated JonOne’s work Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”). A tribute to the founding values of the French Republic and to democracy, the painting offers a reinterpretation of Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People in a street art style, on a large 2 x 3m canvas.

Its inauguration was preceded by a short making-of that captures the artist painting the French motto in blue across the entire surface of the blank canvas before adding some red accents. He then enriches this patriotic palette with some complementary tones. The final stage of the process was revealed during the painting’s inauguration: Delacroix’s allegory is brought to life through the clever use of a reverse stencil effect.

In 2014, JonOne painted a mural for the historic Bichat public hospital in Paris. The fresco was installed at the entrance to the hospital, where it can be viewed by patients, staff and visitors. The integration of art into this public space reinforces the hospital’s aesthetic value. It creates a dynamic in which everyday and artistic spaces become one. This piece is a reminder of the transformative power of art, especially in the context of a hospital.

Born in the Streets highlights the extraordinary vitality of the graffiti art movement, which emerged from the streets of New York in the early 1970s to become a worldwide phenomenon. The exhibition traces the contours of a vast and complex artistic landscape, encompassing a multitude of techniques, ideas and trends. Offering a reading of the movement’s origins as well as a glimpse into the wealth of contemporary literature that exists on the subject, the exhibition Born in the Streets – Graffiti gives visitors the opportunity to learn more about this ubiquitous and constantly evolving art form, and to change their way of looking at the city.