Clare Sellers
Popular Brooklyn based artist Jon Burgerman sits in his studio, surrounded by doodles and sketches of his own creation, proudly sporting a yellow ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ jumper and preparing to talk all things artistic.
Mr Burgerman is world-famous for his unusual art style, mainly consisting of doodles ranging between fine art and urban art. As one of the leading artists in his field, he is credited for his innovative approach to drawing, whilst also dabbling in graphic design.
I spoke to him about the effect that Covid-19 has had on his work.
“I think I’ve had less distractions. There’s been less opportunities to be distracted, to go out to travel. Lots of projects got cancelled, which initially is a negative, but it’s created a period of time where I just was left to make stuff for myself again, which was actually quite positive. So now that we feel like we’re beginning to come out of that a little, I feel more, I feel better for it, like creating.
“I feel like I’m in a really good space creatively.”
“Just be inspired by it, but then do your own.”
When asked about his thoughts on schools adding him to their art curriculum, he emphasised how flattering this was, but stated,
“It also feels somewhat premature. Like when I was at school, the only artists we really looked at were long dead. So, whilst I think it’s great that people are looking at artists that are still alive, it makes me feel really, really old. It’s a bit weird seeing like lots of kids, kind of drawing, redrawing my drawings, again, very flattering, but also it’s a little weird.
“The next step should be like, make your own characters. And they don’t have to look like mine. You know, there’s no right or wrong. Just be inspired by it, but then do your own.”
Mr Burgerman discussed the art he makes and the process of finding the messages behind them.
“I think sometimes you make stuff because you just feel inspired to do something and then you realise why you made it afterwards. And sometimes that happens like months or years later, you look at something and you go, wow. I was really feeling this at the time or, now I have a bit of distance, I can see this is what was on my mind.”
“I love experimenting with lots of different types of art”
After thinking about some other artists in the industry right now, Mr Burgerman talked about his specific genre of art, and if he would be willing to try something different in the future.
“Who knows. Never say never, but I love experimenting [with] lots of different types of art or different types and ways of making. Different types of paint and materials, animation photography, you know, messing around with anything really, little 3D guys.”
It is clear that this artist’s work is similar in style to a lot of cartoon characters. Knowing this, I had to ask him about his favourite cartoons growing up.
“Everything. Count Duckula, Super Ted, Henry’s Cat, Top Cat, The Flintstones, all tech savoury stuff, and Chuck Jones stuff, you know, the Looney tunes things. And then as I got a little bit older stuff like the Simpsons starts to come over from the US so I was into that. [I] really, really liked the Simpsons growing up. Power Puff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, all that old school Nickelodeon stuff.”
Going back to his own characters, Mr Burgerman divulged some information on the making of them and when their personalities start to appear for him.
“So, you know, [at] the very beginning, they are just a blob or shape, an outline. So, and then sometimes even that, or a colour can suggest some sort of personality, and then you have the eyes and then it’s like, oh, it’s getting a little nearer to something. And then you add the mouth and you’re like, oh yeah, I know who you are. And then it kind of comes into focus. Not always, but quite often. And I think like a lot of art, they’re all an extension of me in some way, they’re all like a cipher for my personality or a shade of my personality, I think.”
“I always knew I wanted to create visuals and do something creative, make stuff”
Looking back at his career gives his time to reflect and consider what he would be doing had he not become an artist in the first place.
“I would probably be a ghost Buster or, I don’t know, I don’t know what I’d be. It would be nice to imagine right now, just coming to the end of my football career. I would probably be playing in the far east or in America, you know, having had a successful time in the premier league, but very unlikely.
“I don’t know, doing something creative. It’s all I ever wanted to do. I didn’t know if I’d necessarily be an artist or a designer or work on an animated TV show or, you know, something like that but, I always knew I wanted to create visuals and do something creative, make stuff.”
After having his first exhibition since 2019 held in Boston throughout July, this world renowned artist is excited to start sharing and connecting with people again, telling me about some of his upcoming projects and exciting opportunities.
“I’m doing some projects in China. Which is cool and feels very far away. It’s all done via email, and you get little photos of stuff happening. So [I’m] doing some clothing stuff over there, and some big posters for a sort of development over there, that’s kind of fun. And, I don’t know, lots of making prints and some more animation and stuff.
“Maybe some experiments in AR. So that will be interesting. So, we’ll see.”
It’s clear that Jon Burgerman still has a lot of his artistic career ahead of him, and I can’t wait to see where he goes next.
Image courtesy of Clare Sellers
claresellers
I am a 20-year-old multimedia journalism student in my final year studying at the University of Salford