Elevate Talks: Jon Burgerman
Jon Burgerman is a UK born, NYC based artist, famed for his instantly recognizable drawings, doodles, characters and murals and for his hilarious and witty Instagram stories. Also, he is a salad enthusiast.
Can you introduce yourself, please?
My name is Jon Burgerman and I’m from Europe and live in New York.
How would you define your style?
Cool colourful characters.
Dumb deadbeat doodles.
How did you decide to become an artist? Was it tough?
I decided when I was about 7 years old. I had to choose between being an artist or a footballer or a ghostbuster. It was a tough decision but my parents supported me thankfully. I’m also not good at running and i’m scared of ghosts.
You are on Wikipedia. How do you feel about it?
I don’t really think or feel anything about it if I’m being honest.
You were part of The Underbelly Project. Could you tell us more about it?
Over 10 years ago a bunch of artists in NYC found an abandoned subway station deep underground (like where the Teenage Mutant Turtles might live). They secretly filled the station with artwork and invited people to go and check it out. I was one of the artists who contributed to it. I never visited the space sadly as I was living in England at the time.
What is having 126k followers on Instagram like?
I don’t know. It’s better to have 1 nice email that someone wrote you saying that your artworks made some kind of positive difference to them.
It’s better if someone reads one of my books or visits one of my exhibitions. I think those kinds of interactions with human beings are much more valuable and important to me.
Which effect do you think new technologies (AR, VR, Internet of Things, etc) have on illustration and animation? How do you feel experimenting with them?
I love experimenting with new technology. I think there’s a lot of fun to be had. Animation and film is the original mind altering technology and we’re still working out how best to use those so whilst the new stuff is cool we should expect it to take a long time before they can begin to be mastered.
Let’s have fun trying new things but remember to still tell interesting stories with engaging characters… Technology doesn’t necessarily make for better art.
If you had to put together your all-time top 3 favorite projects, which would they be?
Wow, I don’t know, I’ve done so many and I can remember hardly any!
I’ve just completed a public art project so let’s say: Hudson Yards Colouring in mural in Manhattan, creating an animation for one of the largest screens in the world, in South Korea, and a cheese and pickle salad sandwich I made in June 1997 — it was incredible!
Who or what inspires you?
People, places, nature, art, literature, books, pictures, planets, songs, sounds, clouds, leaves, tea, cookies, snacks, stickers, bugs, colours, comedy, politics, noses.
Where in the world would you like to exhibit your work?
On the moon.
Oh wait, you said in the world… doh! How could I even get that question wrong? I guess it would be nice to have a big mid-career retrospective in MoMA. Can you make that happen please?
What has been your biggest challenge?
Staying focused whilst also having no idea what I’m actually doing.
How do you see yourself in 12 months?
Sat here replying to emails!
How do you see yourself in 5 years?
Fatter, slower, greyer but not much wiser. I might also be living in a different country by then.
Bonus track: Could you recommend any TV series /comics /movie /song /artist /etc?
Cool — here’s my studio playlist, we add to it all the time. This is the music I like to draw and paint to.
