Biography of Jef Aérosol
Jean-François Perroy, better known under the pseudonym Jef Aérosol, was born in Nantes on 15 January 1957. He is a French stencil artist who was part of the first wave of street art in the 1980s. He painted his first stencil in Tours in 1982. He remains a pioneer and leader in this ephemeral art form, influencing many younger artists. Jef often creates portraits of well-known figures such as Elvis Presley, Gandhi, Lennon, Hendrix, Basquiat, Amalia Rodrigues, Dylan, etc. But most of his work focuses on anonymous people from the streets: musicians, passers-by, beggars, children, and so on. He paints life-size silhouettes in black-and-white, always with his famous and mysterious red arrow, his second signature and trademark.
I might as well come out and say it — I don’t know anything about football and it’s not really my cup of tea!
So why did I agree to paint the Lyon Stadium?
Simply because it seemed to me that painting on-site, in an exceedingly popular space, for a public that’s not always wild about art or used to going to galleries and museums, is exactly the essence of what is commonly called “urban art” today.
It has always seemed to me that art was sorely lacking in these gigantic arenas where the only images are usually adverts, team logos, or sponsors’ logos. By combining poetry, cockiness, and emotion, I’ve chosen to paint figures who are not directly connected to sports but can resonate with this space and the people who fill it up at every game or event.
