Today we’ve got JONS, a really interesting Brazilian graffiti artist, painting out of São Paulo. From the photos I’ve seen, JONS seems to have a few different styles going on, characters in black and white and brightly coloured decorative pieces too.

I love how the coloured stuff fits in beautifully with the decaying settings that he paints in. So we’ve got some questions for JONS, and he’s very kindly come back with answers. Enough with my chatter.

WG – When did you start painting/graffing, and what inspired you to start?

JONS – I started doing pieces back in 99/2000, then in 2004 i started to work the styles I do today.
I was inspired entirely by Hip Hop culture, I draw since I was a kid and as a hip hop fan, graffiti just invaded my life.

WG – What do you use to paint?

JONS – I use latex to fill big spaces or backgrounds, and spray paint for the drawings…I normally use Brazilian spray paints Colorgin Arts and Worx, combined with MTN.

WG – Where do you paint, São Paulo? Any particular districts?

JONS – Normally all over São Paulo, I really like to paint places far from downtown, less rich neihgborhoods and abandoned places too. São Paulo is too big to paint always in the same area.

WG – What name do you paint as?

JONS – I paint as JONS, but i also sign SNOJ sometimes.

WG – What are your influences when you paint?

JONS – Anything that my mind can feel…from art itself to music. Anything can inspire people in certain way…i try to absorb all that and put it up on the wall in an abstract way.

WG – Tell us a bit about your crew – What is the name, who else are you running with, when did it start?

JONS – I’m down with the UH crew, that besides me, Branca and Consp from Brasil, still counts with Betor, Dopesick, Ksra, Tier2, Kor, Mir, Seap, Rekon, Robotone, Leak, Rukus, Knives, Kalus, Epok and Found…all writers from the USA, and I have a crew of Brazilian writers called The Ones, with Branca, Consp, Icone, Morie, Danirox, Reif and Celione.

WG – Are there any artists out there you particularly like?

JONS – Os Gemeos for sure, they inspire me since forever, Speto, Tinho and other old school writers as well, and a lot of writers that I know up here.

Thanks very much to JONS for taking the time, you can see more of his art on Flickr and Fotolog, He’s got some great stuff in there so take a look.