Cleon Peterson was born in 1973 in Seattle.

He grew up in a bohemian family environment, encouraging creativity. Asthmatic during his childhood, he practiced drawing during his many hospitalizations.

Later, when he lived in New York, he fell into drugs and spent some time in prison and in a psychiatric hospital. It is from this experience that the artist nourishes his work today.

Urban violence, ghettos and the tension that reigns there are thus at the heart of his works. "I paint a reality that not everyone has necessarily experienced but which exists, which is out there.

There is a kind of primary life that goes with this misery, that's what I try to approach in my paintings," confides the artist, without any moral judgment.

In addition to his work as a painter, Cleon Peterson is a very famous graphic designer in the skateboarding world. In 1998, he joined the Californian team of Shepard Fairey's assistants.

In 2009, he had his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles and has continued to multiply projects since then. In 2014, he created a 50-meter fresco at the Palais de Tokyo.