JO BER

"The art of early civilizations inspires me deeply, and you can see it in my creations."

Born in 1983, JO BER lives and works around Paris. The artist spent his youth in the meanders of La Défense, slaloming between the towers and the underground passages. Passionate about drawing and comics, he pencils all the time and fills dozens of sketchbooks.

He began graffiti in the early 2000s in waste lands, under the pseudonym BER and focused on the characters and decorations which he integrated into collective creations then, eager for new supports and new sensations, he began to paint in the street, on railway tracks, etc. JO BER then became passionate about rolling stock, and did not hesitate to defy the taboo to put his style on the trains. His passion for railways will lead him to discover new countries and new horizons.

JO BER did not give up drawing, on the contrary, he collaborated in the creation of a fanzine of satirical comics "La Koulure".

Today, JO BER focuses his work on walls, on canvas and on paper. He takes pleasure in playing with the composition to tell his stories. Funny stories, comical situations, an amusing and spicy glance at our daily life make altogether the universe of JO BER a true tale with variable geometry. These characters with round and smiling faces tell us about their moods. The soft colors contrast with the underlying irony.

We detect in his works all his intentions which consist in sketching the contours of an imagined universe.

His inspirations are wide, ranging from comics (Will Eisner, Frank Miller, Robert Crumb, Katsuhiro Otomo, Moebus, ...) to the art of the first civilizations. He immerses himself in everything that surrounds him, then digests it and restores it with his style that characterizes him.

He gets closer to the movement of free figuration in the way he composes his paintings, and the way he apprehends painting as well as in the popular aspect of his works.