Born in Versailles in 1981, Jean Rooble is a visual artist andvself-taught graffiti artist now living and working in Bordeaux, France.
Jean Rooble has been drawing since his childhood, inspired by comics and mangas. His portraits soon started to look like photographs.
Raised in the 90s’ hip hop culture, he started graffiti in 1999 starting with wildstyle lettering, then his characters quickly get him noticed.
In 2003, he choosed his nickname – Jean Rooble : “By chance, by locking on a word in a sentence, a song, a conversation, on the radio... I’ve always found my aliases this way. They are also pretext to practice lettering” he says.
After near 10 years of practice, he decided to fully commit to his art and became artist-author in 2008. The association Les Frères Coulures is created the same year.
Requested for creations and quickly involved in the organisation of events, he created the exhibition Transfert in 2011, with several artists’ collectives from Bordeaux.
In 2014, the eponymous association is founded and the exhibition reached its peak in 2016, when the sixth edition attracted 85 000 visitors in the former Virgin Megastore, place Gambetta, Bordeaux.
Jean Rooble only works with spraypaint, freehand, with no stencil nor projector.
For many years now, his work has been focused on hyperealistic portraits on wall or canvas.
Inspired by Ingres’ or Da Vinci’s technical precision, he uses precursors of the young ultra-realist movement and illustrators from graffiti as references.
Fascinated by chiaroscuro, he sublimates light with a colour technique always renewed and the search for high contrasts.
Between illustration and photographic realism, his works explores universal and humanist topics that somehow show his need to face the human being.
“Human, I paint humans, that is the common thread of my life. Associating the model with the process is
something that is close to my heart.”
Exhibitions and auctions:
- Solo show ZONE BLANCHE, Cultural Institute Bernard Magrez (Bordeaux, Fr.), 2019
- Group show KING SIZE, Cox Gallery (Bordeaux, Fr.), 2018
- Group show TRANSFERT-LES-BAINS, Louis David's House (Andernos-Les-Bains, Fr.), 2017
- Group show TRANSFERT #6, former Virgin Megastore (Bordeaux, Fr.), 2016
- Group show TRAN5FERT, Old commissionership of Castéja (Bordeaux, Fr.), 2015 (www.expotransfert.fr)
- Auction Street-Art, Toulouse (Fr.), 2014
- Auction Study Toledano, Arcachon and Bordeaux (Fr.), 2012 and 2013
- Group show TRANSFERT, Les Vivres de l'Art (Bordeaux, Fr.), 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014
- Group show Street-art: the Urban design displays, bookcase of Le Grand Parc (Bordeaux, Fr.), 2012
- Group show Tribes, Villeneuve-Sur-Lot (Fr.), cultural center, 2011
- Sale for the benefit of Doctors Without Borders (Group Arom) (Bordeaux, Fr.), 2011
- Group show Les Frères Coulures and Peinture Fraîche expose themselves, Festival May of the Arts, Center Jules Ferry (Bergerac, Fr.), 2010
- Group show Kendo/Jone/Rooble, Festival Urban Vibrations, Media library of Pessac (Fr.), 2010
- Group show Pencil strokes, Espace 29 (Bordeaux, Fr.), 2009
Some examples:
- Jury, Street Art Contest, Festival Urban Vibrations (Pessac, Fr.), 2016
- Participation at the Meeting Of Style France (Perpignan, F), on 2015
- Organization of group show, TRANSFERT, Les Vivres de l'Art / Old commissionership of Castéja (Bordeaux, Fr.), on 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015
- Commissionership of group show, Street-Art, the Urban design displays, Bookcases of Bordeaux (Fr.), 2012
- Organization of international graffiti frescoes, Festival Urban Vibrations (Pessac, Fr.), 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013
- Jury, Battle Graff (Reims, Fr.), 2011 and 2012
- Performances for Air France, CDiscount, Mercedes, Reggae Sun Ska Festival, Converse, Radio Nova, Agora, ERDF …