The Parcelle473 urban art museum in Montpellier has been transformed into an artist's studio for JonOne!

“New style, new vibe – Dans l’atelier de JonOne” est à admirer jusqu’au 13 octobre à Parcelle473. DR

Neuf ans après son exposition cruciale au Carré Sainte-Anne, le street-artiste américain, maître du graffiti expressionniste abstrait, JonOne est de retour à Montpellier cette fois au musée Parcelle473. Euphorisant !

An explosion of bright colors, perpetual movements, hyperbolic, hyper-beneficial vibrations. This is something, a JonOne work! It’s a stress test for cardiac chameleons (who knows, there might be some)! And it’s a joy for everyone else!

Nine years after causing a sensation at Carré Sainte-Anne with the exhibition “Above and below”, street artist JonOne returns to Montpellier for “New style, new vibe” at Parcelle473. The museum of urban and contemporary art, opened in the former wine cellar located on the heights of Malbosc, in fact offered him carte blanche with a concept that was as clear as it was delightful.

"In the workshop…"

“In the studio of…” consists of offering the guest artist several days of residency before the opening of the exhibition so that he can create in one of the workshops of the place, new works which will flesh out the hanging, but also to show him that the walls are also open to his expression, as is the scenography.

Thus, over five days, the New York master of abstract expressionist graffiti produced around ten paintings, as well as a large canvas replacing the ceiling and surprise, a large wall, in addition to older works collected for the occasion, notably the superb large format Up and down, property of the City of Montpellier which lent it for three years to Parcelle473.

"It's been so many years that I've been writing my name, JonOne, on walls all over the world… and I still don't know why!", smiled the warm artist during the opening. "Is it because I& rsquo;I'm afraid I won't remember my name anymore ? Is it because I'm totally egocentric ?" More seriously, he did not hide his great pleasure in seeing his present exhibition, reproducing the creative, electric and slightly crazy atmosphere of a workshop."I remember the first time I walked into an artist's studio, it changed my life!, he said. I had a real job, in the United States, but I didn't like it, I felt that if I continued, it would drive me crazy. When I found myself in this workshop with my friends, drinking beers, listening to music and watching our friend paint, I said to myself: I want to do that. So little by little, I immersed myself in the world of art. Although I wasn't going to make money, that's what I wanted!"

"Travel diary"

Regarding his latest creations, produced mainly (and frantically) in the middle of the night, they demonstrate a kind of lightness, of purity. In the gesture, less profuse, while retaining all his virtuosity in the movement, the management of the flow, the dripping. In the color, less plural, less telluric, but always full of poetry and euphoria. JonOne sees them as a kind of “travel diary” : “I am lucky to be able to travel a lot, to have encountered many cultures. I restore impressions from them. And there are also these dominant tones of blue and white that refer to the beautiful weather that is always here in Montpellier. But my inspiration is you, it's the people I meet!"

Settled in Paris for thirty years, the affable (and brilliant) New Yorker has a special affection for Montpellier:"It’s here, at Carré Sainte-Anne, that I had my first exhibition in an institution. It was the first time that people could see my entire artistic universe in one place. After this exhibition, everything exploded for me. An artist never develops alone but with others. I am infinitely grateful to Montpellier."

Besides this exhibition, JonOne created a fresco of 10 pieces on the Place de l’Europe, in Montpellier, on the occasion of the passage of the Olympic flame. m which will eventually be installed in a sports facility in the city. Furthermore, he will be the sponsor of the 7th edition of Solid’Art, the contemporary art fair for the benefit of Secours Populaire, which will be held from September 20 to 22 at the Zénith sud. JonOne's name is not only on every wall, it is also on everyone's lips in Montpellier.

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