Style, 2016

Rey Oner  

Intention note — Style!

« Style! » — with its exclamation mark — is a statement: in Graffiti, style is not an accessory. It is the work itself. REY ONER, a true founding figure of the Genevan Graffiti scene, presents here a synthesis of over thirty-five years of research on the letter: very intertwined letters, a compact and well-balanced base, curves whose strength belongs only to him.

This maxi-format — 270 × 160 cm — translates the monumentality inherent in street Graffiti. REY ONER transposes here onto canvas the same energy and the same precision he deploys on walls: every stroke is a choice, every color a decision. The axes of force, the effects of drip, break, or bubbling make this piece particularly dynamic — it breathes, it moves, it imposes.

A training in the crucible of two continents

REY ONER — whose writer name is also spelled « REYS » or « REYONE » — entered the world of Graffiti in 1989 in Geneva through hip-hop culture. In 1990, he founded with KEAR (since disappeared), SADE and TIMER the collective EDK (Esprit Du Karton), which quickly established itself through its calligraphic and foundational style, directly inspired by New York and Parisian schools.

In 1991, he flew to the United States, first to Seattle where he met his mentor CEZER NCW, originally from New York, who transmitted to him the tradition of « NYC style writing » in all its depth. From 1991 to 1995, he painted two to three murals per week as part of the crews DVS and 2ZC, alongside SOUL (since disappeared), SNEKE, HEWS, WENT and FEVER. In 1997, he settled in the Bronx until 2002, mingling with legends of New York Graffiti and building a style that is today recognized worldwide.

My motto: starting from the foundations of the original New York style and pushing it in my way. Style is a never-ending story: it is never perfect, and one must practice constantly — it never stops.

Institutional link

In 2025, REY ONER — presented under the name REYONE — participates in the exhibition « Graffiti, des lettres & styles » organized by Galerie du Boléro in Versoix, in partnership with the gallery OUTSIDE ART (May 8 – July 27, 2025). This reference exhibition brings together seven major international artists around a questioning of the current state of Graffiti and its relationship to the letter and style — questions at the heart of REY ONER's practice since his beginnings.

Formal analysis

The composition of « Style! » is organized by an intertwining following a logic of subtle connections forming a compact and balanced structure that testifies to the mastery of an artist who spent decades sketching daily to « stay stylistically on point ».

The space of 270 × 160 cm is fully inhabited: there is no empty space, no neglected area. The work imposes its presence in any exhibition or collection space, just as it imposes the writer's presence on walls. « Style! » is the proof that the wall and the canvas, for REY ONER, are the same territory.

Certificate of authenticity issued by the gallery

Style! is presented by OUTSIDE ART — out-side-art.com