Born in Paris in 1968, Jeremy Baudouin, A.K.A. Jaybo Monk, is a French artist currently living and and working in Berlin, Germany. Jaybo ran away from home at the age of 14 eventually landing in Berlin-Kreuzberg in the early 1980’s where he spent time as a graffiti writer, street actor, and hip-hop musician. At the beginning of the 1990’s, Monk founded the streetwear label “Irie Daily” and the cultural magazine “Style”.
Jaybo’s paintings, are “erratic and chaotic as they directly quote various fragments of urban subculture. His brushstrokes and figure characterizations are vaguely suggestive of Francis Bacon, the influence of Asian art can be seen, or slivers of the world of Walt Disney make an appearance – like his projection on the Berlin Cathedral, transformed into a veritable tidal wave of Mickey-Mouse hands. Jaybo himself characterizes these sorts of stylistic quotes as “visual reflexes,” designed to involve the observer by using their high level of familiarity with the elements interacting within the picture. It rests with the public to create meaning behind the artwork by allowing these imaginations to play out and by superimposing the pictures with their own experiences (that of childhood, for example). (from Circle Culture Gallery)
To see more of Jaybo Monk’s work, visit Circle Culture Gallery.
