Eltono is a French artist born in the suburbs of Paris in 1975. His work is mostly influenced by his graffiti background. He started painting around 1989 in his neighborhood mostly on train tracks and highway walls. "Eltono focused mainly on the railway lines to the northwest of the city, painting in the traditional silver and black, block letter Parisian style." He lived in Madrid from 1999 to 2010 (where he got his pseudonym), then in Beijing from 2010 to 2014 and since 2014 lives in the south of France. In 1999, while living in Madrid, he started painting abstract symbols with tape and acrylic paint. "It was then that he developed the colorful geometric box patterns for which he is now known." "As Eltono himself suggested, his move away from traditional graffiti was produced so as to find a harmony with both the material and the social body of the city (integrating both its architectonic and societal elements in a more consensual manner)." "Eltono also rejects conventional letterforms in favor of a minimalism device with which to negotiate space."
Eltono's work is mainly influenced by the urban environment and questions the limits between public and private space. He uses the term "public space artist" to describe his practice. When showing his work in galleries and museums, he focuses on finding a coherent way to show street art in private spaces. "[Eltono's] career in both the street and the galleries [], is an example of a certain ethic of sustained work, oblivious to everything, which creates its own parameters and builds its own audience."
He has collaborated with artists such as MOMO (artist), Nuria Mora (http://nuriamora.com/), Luce and is part of the Equipo Plástico art collective (alongside Nuria Mora, Nano4814 and Sixeart) and Noviciado9 (alongside 3ttman, Remed, Spok, Nano4814 and Luciano Suarez).
Solo exhibitions (selection)
10/2002 — Complémentaires, Vacío 9, Madrid, Spain 01/2006 — (x, y, z), Vacío9, Madrid, Spain 11/2006 — Eigenkunstruktion, Artitude, Berlin, Germany 10/2007 — Eltono at ART, Monterrey, Mexico 06/2008 — Astillas, La Culpable, Lima, Peru 07/2008 — Bermellón, ROJO artspace, Barcelona, Spain 09/2008 — PLAF – Autonomous Mechanisms, New York, U.S.A. 01/2009 — Coriandoli, Cripta747, Turin, Italy 01/2009 — Pubblico, ROJO artspace, Milan, Italy 05/2010 — Retícula, Delimbo Gallery, Seville, Spain 10/2011 — Eredu, SC Gallery, Bilbao, Spain 06/2012 — 1/1, C-Space gallery, Caochangdi, Beijing, China 07/2012 — Deambular, Artium Museum, Vitoria, Spain 03/2014 — Amalgama, Slowtrack, Madrid, Spain 06/2015 — Incontrôlables, Instituto Cervantes de Paris, Paris, France 10/2015 — Aléas, Delimbo, Seville, Spain 11/2015 — Lugares Comunes, Set Espai d'Art, Valencia, Spain
Collective shows (selection)
06/2002 — Coded Language, Atlanta, USA 09/2002 — Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, England 09/2003 — Ill Communication, Urbis Museum, Manchester, England 01/2006 — 1st Art Biennial Foundation ONCE, Madrid, Spain 09/2006 — Pintura Mutante, Marco Museum, Vigo, Spain 01/2007 — Privé Och Público, Göteborg, Sweden 03/2008 — Nomadaz, Scion Gallery, Los Angeles, USA 05/2008 — Street Art, Tate Modern Museum, London, England 05/2009 — Observatori 2009, Valencia, Spain 02/2010 — Murals, Fundación Miró, Barcelona, Spain 09/2012 — Biennale d’Art Contemporain du Havre, Le Havre, France 08/2013 — Wooster Collective 10th Anniversary Show, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, USA 09/2014 — Artmossphere Biennial, Moscow, Russia 01/2015 — Mapping The City, Somerset House, London, England 04/2015 — Oxymores, Ministry of Culture, Paris, France 07/2015 — Arqueologia Prohibida, Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain
Notes
Bibliography
Ornament & Order: Graffiti, Street Art and the Parergon, Rafael Schacter, Ashgate (U.K.) - The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti, Rafael Schacter, Yale University Press (U.S.A.) - Line and Surface, Monographic book, Stickit (N.L.) - Urban Maps, Instruments of Narrative and Interpretation in the City, Richard Brook and Nick Dunn, Ashgate (U.K.) - We Own the Night: The Art of the Underbelly Project, Workhorse and PAC, Rizzoli (U.S.A.) - Trespass, Taschen (U.S.A.) - Durch die Augen in den Sinn, Galerie Konkret (Germany) - Urban Interventions, Personal Projects in Public Spaces, Gestalten (Germany) - Arte Emergente en España – Emerging Art in Spain, Manuela Villa, Vaiven (Spain) - Abstract Graffiti, Cedar Lewisohn, Merrell Publishers - Puerta Lumbreras – Eltono, Documental book about the project, Puerto Lumbreras (Spain) Bar Tom Cruise, Monographic book, Ediciones Rojo (Spain) - The Art of Rebellion II (Germany) - Carnet de rue, JR, Free presse (France) - Graffiti World, Thames & Hudson (Germany) - Street Logos, Thames & Hudson (U.K.) - The Art of Rebellion (Germany) -
External links Official website: www.eltono.com Equipo Plástico website Pinto Gratis, Javier Abarca, Urbanario Eltono paints mural for French Embassy in Cambodia, Urbanite Webzine Does Street Art Belong in a Gallery?, Zachary Kussin, Newsweek From dissident to decorative why street art sold out and gentrified our cities, Rafael Schacter, The Conversation Esplendor geométrico de Eltono, El Mundo El 'spray' se agita en Madrid, El País National news in Spain about "Puerta Lumbreras" project, TVE1
Further reading Interview on Ekosystem in English Interview on Ekosystem in French Interview on Ekosystem in Spanish Interview for Velvetliga