2501 (Jacopo Ceccarelli, Milan, 1981) started to paint graffiti and especially tags and letters on trains at the age of 14, under the name “Never”. After having lived in São Paulo, where he got in touch with the south American school of Street Art, he maturated his artistic style and developed his own technique. He decided then to change his name to 2501, his birthdate, to remind him about this artistic rebirth.
2501: art
His production now goes from video to paintings, from organic elements to sculptures made of materials he finds directly on the street, from black and white to fluorescent colours; nothing stops his desire to experiment and reinvent. In the last years, he favoured a style made of black and white wavy lines, symbolizing somehow the changing of perception. However, the style is only a tool, what really matters for the artist is the concept. To express the concept, he focuses on the so-called “gesturality”, the movement of his hand on the surface. His production, between abstract and figurative, is inspired by nature.
Most important exhibitions
The artist has participated in numerous exhibitions and festivals all over the world, exhibiting in prestigious institutions like the Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci in Prato, the Milan Triennale, and the MACRO in Rome.
2501 in 2019, created ‘La Macchina’ interactive artworks for ‘Contemporary Day’, an international event in collaboration with National Historical Museum, in the same year, 2501 exhibited a solo show “Visual sequencing and Tracking skills” during Basel Miami 2019 at Product/81 Creative Lab.
In 2018, Gagliardi Museum in Noto inaugurated an exhibition that retraces a century of Italian abstract painting: ‘ABSTRACTA – from Balla to Street Art’ which featured works by 2501. In 2017, 2501 took part in the collective exhibition Cross the Street at MACRO and took part in several festivals and art projects such as Borgo Universo, in Aielli, Abruzzo.
In 2015 he presented a special project at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia at the Foro Italico, Rome, in a project created in collaboration with Wunderkammern.
In 2013, he participated in ‘Back 2 Back’ to Biennale, an official satellite event of the 55th Venice Biennale, and in the same year he has installed permanently one of his works at the Palazzo Collicola Museo Carandente in Spoleto, with the street art project Onthewall.
In 2009, 2501 won the Street Art Award at the Metropolis Art Prize 2009 with the video ‘Mask’, projected in Times Square, NYC.
