Perrello, John: Jonone Rock

Graffiti artist and painter, John Andrew Perello aka JonOne, was born in New York in 1963. He grew up in the Spanish Harlem neighbourhood of New York with his parents from the Dominican Republic.
The artist, who now lives and works in Paris, was introduced to street art at an early age, when he would see graffiti and tags on subway cars and city walls. Adopting these modes of expression, JonOne used the energy he felt from the city to find freedom in painting his urban landscape. While he has evolved from his early tagging days, his art continues to be inspired by the "Urban Jungle" from his youth. He began tagging his name in graffiti at the age of 17, with a childhood friend. In 1984, he founded the Graffiti 156 All Starz, to bring together the passion of Graffiti artists.
During those early years, he met his French counterpart, Bando, who invited him instantly to Paris. John browsed the Parisian sidewalk, accompanied by the pioneers of French Hip-Hop, and started to produce paintings in the heart of an open-aired workshop at the Éphémère hospital. After moving to Paris, he began his work as a painter on canvas in a workshop. Soon he made his name in Parisian artistic circles, through his works on canvas, and was exhibited in 1990 at Gallery 45 in Berlin, and took part in the exhibition Graffiti Paris, where his work is constantly exposed to the world.
His work is among those that achieve the highest bids for Graffiti Art in the world. Magda Danysz, Marcel Strouk and even David Pluskwa have exhibited his work. His pieces were privileged enough to be displayed in Tokyo, Monaco, New York and Hong Kong.