Artist stAtement

Born in 1943 in Oran, Algeria, Frenchman Jean Sariano studies art at L’Ecole Régionale et Municipale Des Beaux Arts d’Oran. He is forced to escape the Algerian Revolution to Vichy, France in 1956 with his mother and five siblings. From there, Sariano moves to Paris to pursue his art studies at the world famous L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux Arts de Paris.

To fund his studies, he becomes janitor at Giraudon in Paris - a photo agency specialized in art. There he meets all the Masters, and very quickly he is in charge of classifying thousands of painting reproductions “A dream job for the eyes”.  This job allows him to make his first trip to New York where he immediately falls in love with the city. It is at this time that he starts painting bicycles: “I had a bicycle before my eyes, and I thought it was beautiful. It taught me to study the shape.”

After his military service in France in 1968, Sariano goes back to New York. The city allows him to become who he really is: “People trusted me and I was earning a living doing what I love.”  He finds companionship and camaraderie in Manhattan's printmaking workshops and becomes recognized in the art community. In 1980 he discovers gouache to be his true art form. 

Sariano has a prolific collection of work from the early 1960’s to the present largely comprised of whimsical characters, linear cubism and a love of abstract shapes.