Jean-François Perroy, better known under the pseudonym Jef Aérosol, was born in Nantes (France) on January 15th 1957. He's a French urban stencil artist, a main proponent of the first generation of street artists who started working on the streets in the early 80s.
He spraypainted his very first stencil in Tours (Central France) in 1982. He was a pioneer of what is now called "urban art" and he remains a reference and an influence among street artists of the younger generations.
Jef often paints celebrities and icons such as Elvis Presley, Gandhi, Lennon, Hendrix, Basquiat, Amalia Rodrigues, Dylan...
But a very important part of his work is also devoted to the anonymous characters of the street : buskers, passers-by, beggars, kids, elderlies, ordinary people...
Jef Aérosol's famous and somewhat mysterious red arrow appears on all his works and has become some sort of a trademark, or second signature. Jef sometimes gives his own explanations but he prefers the people to come up with their own interpretations and feelings about the arrow !
A true originator who helped spark what is now known as “Street Art” when he sprayed his first stencil series across the city of Tours, France one night in 1982, the self-taught Jef Aerosol has continuously rocked the streets with his oversized portraits and helped define a new public art nomenclature with other French artists like Blek Le Rat, Miss Tic, and Speedy Graphito.
Steadily from the ’80s to the ’10s Aerosol has cut and sprayed stunning portraits of his heroes; cultural icons who stand undiminished by the hype. They connect directly with the masses and shake public opinion with humor and provocation; Strummer, Cash, Vicious, Hendrix, Bowie, Bardot, Cobain, Lennon, Smith, Jagger – all brainy agitators and vixens cut and sprayed in stark layers of black, grey and white. And each with Jef Aerosol’s signature hot red arrows affixed nearby for exclamation.
In Street Art and in the gallery, Jef Aerosol has not purely focused on those well-known personages. Among the faces you’ll find a number of self-portraits and portrayals of the more anonymous among us such as those living and working in the streets.
Like the best photographers, Aerosol catches the instant of truth in his portraits, and reveals a universal humanity in each subject. “In my work I love to call up my feelings and emotions to honor these modern day heroes who have fed my life with their music, art and ideas. This new show is a powerful and vivid collection of these inspirations that I am really excited to bring to New York for the first time," says Jef Aerosol about his solo show at Ad Hoc Gallery, in Brooklyn.
Stephen Harrington (BrooklynStreetArt.com), 2009
Jef Aerosol initially explored ‘copy-art’ in the late 70s, i.e. creating collages and distortions of photos using all the possibilities of a photocopier. He gradually moved to stencils, influenced by 70s-80s underground rock bands. Characters are the focal point of Jef Aerosol’s art. Whether they are cultural icons or anonymous people, their attitudes carry a genuine emotion, magnified by texture effects, contrasted colours and provoking wording. Jef Aerosol masters the use of stencil. Like the best photographers, he can catch the truth of an instant to reveal its universality.
Caroline Leluel (French Art Studio, London)
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