The appointment is set on the edge of Paris, not far from his studio. John Andrew Perello, better known as JonOne, arrives by bike, flecked with paint and visibly hungry. He leads us to a neighbourhood brasserie, the real kind, not one of those self-conscious versions dressed up in polished pseudo-vintage charm. Conversation flows, joined by Johanna Beyer, Managing Partner of BARNES Saint-Germain-des-Prés and a friend of the artist since 2017, when JonOne bought an apartment in the 6th arrondissement, 'the artists' neighbourhood par excellence.'
The conversation moves easily from one subject to the next: his teenage years in Harlem, the graffiti he first saw in his neighbourhood, 'an open-air museum', then his own tags, first in his building, until his mother firmly suggested he take that urge to express himself elsewhere. Because that, for JonOne, is what art is: a way of speaking through form, fusing the literal energy of calligraphy with abstraction and an unapologetic burst of colour. He went on to claim the city in the midst of a New York art scene then gathering extraordinary momentum: in Brooklyn, Basquiat was emerging; in Manhattan, Keith Haring was studying at the School of Visual Arts.
Our return to the late 1980s is interrupted by a crème brûlée, and a few comments on the crackle of its caramelised top. A small detail, perhaps, yet also a fitting illustration of the French art de vivre the artist so appreciates: "Art de vivre in France is different from the idea of lifestyle. There is a cultural, elegant dimension to it." Since arriving in Paris in 1987, JonOne has come to understand this many-sided city intimately. Out of curiosity, certainly, but also because he has never had much patience for limits or boundaries, except to test them. JonOne has known many worlds: from the raw urban expanse of Hôpital Éphémère in the 18th arrondissement to his encounter with Agnès b., his immersion in the Radio Nova orbit, and the distinguished galleries of the 8th arrondissement that now show his canvases.
More than a rise, it is the coexistence of worlds that would seem to stand apart, yet which he continues to bring together with ease. "What I love about Paris is its mix. I love Barbès as much as I love the 6th. I've had the chance to evolve through very different worlds, and that has given me a real richness. I love Les Deux Magots, but I also love hunting down the best couscous in Ménilmontant." In every sense, the most Parisian of Americans. His work appears on a highly limited-edition Guerlain bottle, on a Boeing 777 for an inaugural Paris-New York flight, and in the Salle des Mariannes at the Assemblée Nationale, but also across less expected surfaces: a Renault 5, a shopping bag, created in support of the Fondation pour le Logement des Défavorisés.
Precisely because he relishes contrast, JonOne is already smiling at the thought of this unprecedented encounter, which will see the façade of the BARNES office overtaken by his signature gesture. An arresting sight for the Beaux-Arts students who pass the windows every day. "This creative place fascinates me, probably because I never had the opportunity to follow an academic path. I've already held two exhibitions there." So the question remains: a gallery, certainly, but the office of a luxury real estate group? "On the contrary, I think street art has more than earned its place in galleries. In the same way that the street could be a first encounter with art for people who might never set foot in a museum, bringing that movement to another audience is a very good thing." And: "I see this event as a meeting between two worlds of prestige: art and real estate." Johanna Beyer adds that the agency was, in fact, originally an art gallery redesigned by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. A return to its roots.