Jon Burgerman

January 13, 2014

Widewalls

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Jon Burgerman is a British artist who traverse the disciplines of contemporary art, design, illustration and entrepreneurship. He gives lectures, public performances and occasionally pop concerts with his band Anxieteam.

Jon’s Doodling Art in Burgesworld

He was born in England and has studied art foundation in Bournville, Birmingham. He graduated in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University in 2001, with First Class Honors. This artist is instigating improvisation and plays through drawing and spectacle. He is a purveyor of doodles and is often credited and referenced as the leading figure in the popular ‘Doodle’ art style. His work is placed between fine art, urban art and pop-culture, using humor to reference and question his contemporary milieu. His is a pervasive and instantly recognizable aesthetic that exists across a multitude of forms including canvases, large scale murals (indoor and outside), sculpture, toys, apparel, design, print and people (as tattoos and temporary drawings).

Pens are my friends

In 2008 his 300 page monograph entitled ‘Pens Are My Friends’ was published by IdN, collating the first 7 years of his professional career. In the same year Jon appeared on the seminal BBC TV show Blue Peter to create a mural ‘doodle’ live on set. Following the publication of his monograph Jon felt it was time, in late 2010, for the second phase of his career. He decided to give away most of his belongings and relocate from the middle of England to New York. He has received a Cannes Lions Advertising award, two D&AD Silver award nominations.

Pop-art band Anxieteam

Performance, intervention and actively engaging, often directly, with an audience has been prominent within the evolution of his practice. Burgerman created a pop-art band entitled Anxieteam, having never been in a band or wrote music or lyrics before. The band, during their 4 year duration, signed an independent record deal, released an album and singles, performed in America and across Europe, had a song featured on a Rolling Stone Magazine cover CD, and were played on the radio, including prime time BBC Radio 1.
In 2013 Jon co-produced and provided the artwork for the award winning documentary film The Great Hip Hop Hoax (dir. Jeanie Finlay), which premiered at SXSW film festival, Austin, Texas. He has also appeared speaking about his work in the documentaries Off The Record, 2015 (dir. Laura Sans) and Made You Look, 2015 (dir. Anthony Peters).
His works include a focus on what he calls ‘quiet interventions’, where subtle, often cheap, nonpermanent actions drastically (and sometimes comically) alter the reading of a signifier, object or situation. It’s Burgerman’s belief that through these playful, creative acts, Art can act as an agent to change the world, by being the catalysis to allow people to change their worlds. His is a pervasive and instantly recognizable aesthetic that exists across a multitude of forms including canvases, large scale murals (indoor and outside), sculpture, toys, apparel, design, print and people (as tattoos and temporary drawings).

Jon Burgerman’s “Hall of famous collaborations and awards”

Burgerman’s work has been featured in many newspapers, magazines, books and blogs around the world. Some of these include:
Al Jezerra America, BBC, The Guardian newspaper, Coolhunting, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, The Daily Mail, New York Daily, Flavourwire, Gothamist, Metro UK, News.com.au, PSFK, The Telegraph Australia, Trendhunter, Yahoo.com, Dazed and Confused, Be Street magazine, The Financial Times, Wooster Collective, Vandalog, Reedit, Bored Panda, Art-Magazin, Juxtapoz, AI-AP, Eye, Creative Review, Design Week, Edge, The Star Malaysia, JoongAng Daily newspaper (Korea), Slam Hype, Format magazine.

Burgerman now regularly performs at events, conferences and universities around the world, (including FITC, OFFF Festival, SVA School of Visual Arts, Nuart Norway, FIT New York, Red Dot Design Museum Singapore) delivering keynote lectures and running creative workshops. His works include a focus on what he calls ‘quiet interventions’, where subtle, often cheap, non-permanent actions drastically (and sometimes comically) alter the reading of a significance, object or situation. It’s Burgerman’s belief that through these playful, creative acts, Art can act as an agent to change the world, by being the catalysis to allow people to change their worlds.
He has received a Cannes Lions Advertising award, two D&AD Silver award nominations and has collaborated with brands that include: Pepsi, Coca Cola, Nike, Sony, Sky, Kidrobot, Puma, Nintendo, MTV, Levis, 55DSL, Miss Sixty, Little Big Planet, AOL, Size? and Rip Curl. He also designed a special sick bag for Virgin Atlantic flights.

Jon Burgerman is currently living in Williamsburg, New York.