Jay Ramier, born Jacky Ramier, is a multidisciplinary and self-taught artist, a visual artist who mixes painting, videos installations and music, a key actor in the building of the European “Urban-Art” scene.
Starting from his roots, Caribbean culture and history, he moves to the representation of the negroes in euro-centric France’s social and cultural spaces. His narrative covers the all Pan-African Diaspora, from west African coast to the American continent, resting on its tribulations and struggles as much as its sense of humour, resistance and creativity, represented by its music and its unconventional use of language. Mixing the ancient popular imagery with todays Pop concept, his grotesque and metaphorical work appears strongly contaminated by contemporary elements.
Jay is one of the first generation graffiti writers, with Skki @ and Ash2 he founded the Badbc (Bad boy crew) strongly influencing the European graffiti scene. Understanding the sociological context and its influence on the creative and aesthetic process, they early developed their own sensibility and style preferring the expression over the form. Considered at the avant-garde of the graffiti-art or urban art, they have largely inspired younger graffiti-artists to show in different spaces than city streets and to reach a wider audience.
Jay’s interest in contemporary practices has led him to use of computer application and other technologies. He has always showed an interest for R&B music, and as he is an expert of black music post 21century and a true hip-hop connoisseur, he regularly uses his knowledge of the 80-90s in his works indeed.
Jay Ramier is a co-creator and contributor to many local magazine projects, such as the first international hip hop fanzine Zulu Letters (Paris), the first street-art magazine Backjumps (Berlin). He is the artistic director and contributor of the conceptual project Afrikadaa, a magazine created in 2010 focused on African artists and beyond. He as also published a book Mouvement. Du terrain vague au Dance-floor 1984—89 and he is currently working on his first monography due in 2015. In his latest work Jay Ramier is focusing on his ancestry legacy, starting from the few family elements he found.
