La main dans le sac, 2015

Tones  

“Attrapé la main dans le sac" (“Caught red-handed") poses the question of the legitimacy of Graffiti as an artistic expression, from transgression to recognized masterpiece. TONES is known and recognized for his lettering from the New York school, but also for his simple, amusing, and always quirky characters that animate his mural creations. This work unites these two registers in a synthetic gesture: lettering and character, style and narration.

The canvas in four colors reveals the talents of the illustrator TONES: the clean drawing, the sure gesture, the subtle humor, and the narrative efficiency characteristic of the writer who became a painter. It symbolizes the vandal-type Graffiti in its most direct and most mythological form: the “caught" character is a universal figure, that of every writer who risked something to put his mark.

From comic book to Graffiti: an assumed lineage

TONES was born in 1982 in Geneva to Cambodian parents. The influence of his father's calligraphy, the fascination with comic book drawings in hip-hop videos, the admiration for Michael Jordan — these are the threads that make up the background of his artistic practice. He begins to draw at age 6, copying the characters from his favorite comic books first on paper, then on his school desk.

It is in 2000 that he takes an aerosol can for the first time, joining a group of friends who roam the streets of Geneva at night. In 2003, he meets his mentor REY ONER, who teaches him the rigor of the New York style and the codes of a culture where respect is acquired through mastery of form. TONES is raised in the EDK and DVS teams school — the Genevan school of Graffiti in its most demanding form.

The idea that a dilapidated wall that no one pays attention to attracts the attention of a grandmother or a child — that is something powerful.

International recognition

TONES' work has established itself far beyond the Genevan scene. In 2017, he created a mural at the global headquarters of Nike in Beaverton, Oregon — a scene of young people playing basketball, inspired by his high school drawings. He has also been solicited by Microsoft and Lays for artistic projects, and his murals adorn the walls of La Paz, Delhi, Santiago du Chili and many other cities around the world.

Formal analysis

The chromatic economy of “Caught red-handed" — only four colors — is a constraint that TONES fully embraces. This limitation recalls the constraints of the early days of Graffiti, where the number of colors was dictated by the available cans. Four colors are enough here to build a clear narrative, a memorable character, a background that places the action in a legible context.

The drawing of the character — simple, expressive, recognizable by a thousand — testifies to the influence of American comic books on TONES' practice. It is not a received influence, but a conscious and claimed source: TONES is one of the few writers who equally assumes his debt to American hip-hop culture and to illustration. “Caught red-handed" is a bridge between these two worlds.

Certificate of authenticity issued by the gallery

Caught red-handed is presented by OUTSIDE ART