JORIT

JULY 31

Biography

His real name is Jorit Ciro Cerullo and he is an Italian artist specialised in urban art. The biggest international newspapers have written about him, including The Guardian, the BBC, the Middle East Eye, TeleSur and Euronews. He has been acknowledged by international critics such as Achille Bonito Oliva and his artistic activity has become the subject of university studies and essays.

He can combine strong social messages with a deep realism and a great technical mastery of the painting medium.

He began to get known in 2005 thanks to a series of graffiti works in the northern suburbs of Naples and in the city centre, and spent time in the Yards (railway depots where writers usually paint illegally on trains) of many European countries.

While expressing original stylistic elements, his early works, which were painted on trains and walls, were very much inspired by the typical features of traditional Graffiti Writing. During the first years of his career, Jorit's artistic activity was flanked by a constant political activism that saw him come into contact with anti-globalisation and social rights movements.

From 2005 onwards, his works began to move towards a figurative style.  Over time, although he never completely abandoned Graffiti art, he decided to focus mainly on the realistic depiction of the human face.

In 2008, he began to gain recognition from a number of museums, which led to his exhibitions at the MACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, the MAGMA Museum and the P.A.N. Museum in Naples. He also exhibited his works in galleries in London, Berlin, Sydney and Rome. In the 2000s and 2010s his work became more and more international, remaining mainly street-related and free for all to enjoy.

Starting in 2013, his interest focused exclusively on the realistic depiction of the human face, which he decided to mark with two red stripes on the cheeks. This refers to African magical/healing rituals, especially the scarification practice, which is an initiation ritual for the passage from childhood to adulthood and is linked to the symbolic moment when the individual joins the tribe. He thus decided to depict the people from the cities he has visited around the world marking them with his pictorial ritual and, in his own words, making them part of the Human Tribe.

On his murals, Jorit adds "hidden" writings, words and expressions that often broaden the meaning of the paintings. These were collected for the first time by Neapolitan psychologist and photographer Vincenzo De Simone as part of the project La gente di Napoli (Humans of Naples).