JBRock is an Italian contemporary artist born in Rome in 1979, where he still lives and works. He is among the most famous writers on the Rome street art scene, and has been active since he was 12 years old. As the artist states, he is not going to stop writing, because there is nothing in his life that is making him feel better. JB deserves credit for kicking off an era of poster and stencil art in Italy. JBRock is a contemporary Italian artist born in Rome in 1979, the city where he lives and works. Since the early nineties he has been part of the underground and graffiti scene in Italy, an activity which, alongside his artistic studies, bases and characterizes his aesthetics and production, with constant references to the graphic and pictorial tradition of the twentieth century. His research appears in several Drago books as RomaOmnia Vincit, among others. Since 2003 he has exhibited in galleries and museums, has several collaborations with brands and companies to his credit, but the street remains his main imaginary reference and exhibition space.
Niccolò Berretta is a Roman photographer. He has curated the photography of numerous documentaries, clips and short films. He has collaborated with Vice Italy, UK and US, with the creative agency Pescerosso, the photographic studio Allucinazione and for years he has collaborated with the production company Mascioni Associati International. In 2019 he photographed “Gucci grip” for Gucci. In 2021 he created the Red Valentino Spring/Summer 2021 lookbook. In 2022 he created the photographic campaign for Ariete x New Balance x As Roma. He collaborates with various artists of the Italian music scene including Carl Brave, Margherita Vicario, Gemello and Noemi. Since 2007 he has been part of the artistic collective “Artcock”. In 2009 he started photographing at Termini station in Rome, and realized with Drago in 2021 “Stazione Termini Lookbook 2009-2021”. In 2022 he began to shoot in the suburbs of Bucharest and in Tokyo he shoots for the BEA studio brand and for Natsuki Shigeta.
The book: Seven appointments during one year to describe 22 years of research. This is the aim of JBRock: Sette variazioni 2000-2022, the catalogue of the exhibition by the same name that shows the evolutions, during time and events, of the Ciccio, the iconic character that made JBRock famous in Italy and abroad. JBRock and his friend and photographer Niccolo Berretta during 2022 – with the curator Giacomo Guidi for Contemporary Cluster – have placed the Ciccio around the city of Rome and started photographing people who pass by. Friends and strangers, famous and unknown, everyone want to have a shot by Niccolò Berretta with the Ciccio in the background. This happening was replaced in the most beautiful and significant place of the Eternal City, from the turistic Campo de' Fiori to the Skatepark, from the night place Ponte Milvio to the flea market of Portaportese. The book contains also an intimate text by the artist and friend Lucamaleonte who chronicled their longtime friendship.
JBRock, Sette variazioni 2000-2022
Photographed by Niccolò Berretta
Softcover, 21 x 30 cm, 88 pages | Drago Publisher | ISBN: 978-88-98565-77-1
