Archive for the ‘Read It’ Category
Brain Drain at the Winchester Discovery Centre
Wow, there are a bunch of great appearances to catch if you’re in the UK in May. This one, particularly, stands out as a Jon Burgerman event not to miss. Brain Drain will feature new paintings, prints, drawings, digital animations and soft sculpture, along with key works from the last 8 years.
Jon Burgerman’s work often deals with the modern world, disquietude, mental phenomena and irrelevant minutiae. These themes are taken as starting points for the creation of often flowing and interconnected hand rendered works that are simultaneously painting, design and mass communication.
Brain Drain is a new exhibition by the UK artist. The show will involve the squishing, twisting and wrenching of Jon’s meagre brain to elicit revelational truths and insights through the medium of pens and paint. Augmented reality, dualism, twin earth theory, the pineal gland and the perfect sandwich are current concerns being wrung out.
Brain Drain runs from May 14th – July 11th, and smack in the middle, on May 26th at 8PM for a £5 sum, you can meet the man. This all takes place at The Gallery in the Winchester Discovery Centre, which, I kid you not, is located on JEWRY Street. Loves it! Someone send pictures! RSVP for the 5/26 talk here.
Nokia Nseries Hong Kong Campaign
Jon Burgerman is big in Hong Kong! These giant adverts are for the Nokia Nseries phones previously seen in Rome, Italy here. Images care of Debut Art.
Bangalore Zine
Yeah we know all about the Kindle and the iPad, but here’s a nice old-school travel zine produced by Jon while visiting Bangalore, India in February. The zine is 38 pages of drawings, comics and photos. There are 100 hand-numbered copies, with the first 25 of them being signed by Jon. You can order yours for just under $8 USD here.
Freeq Magazine Cover
Jon did a great glossy cover (which can be easily turned into a landscape-oriented poster) for Freeq Magazine. There’s also a 2-page interview you should check out. I didn’t scan it because it’s an inexpensive little zine, and they put it all online too, so the least you could do is click over their way and maybe they get a nickel’s worth of ad revenue, right? Check out the interview with Jon here and the whole issue here.
List of Anxieties for Anxious Times
In August of 2009, I interviewed Jon for Heeb Magazine, and he mentioned how he was anxious about writing a guest piece for a UK publication called The Anxious Times. Well, the magazine came out, and boy is it glorious. I had no idea magazines like this existed. Sporting a celebrity cover, it includes stories with tantalizing titles like “COMPULSIVE HOARDING PODCAST” and “Anxiety UK Joins the British Toilet Association (BTA) Campaign for Better Public Toilets.” The fact that you folks across the pond have both this magazine AND a BTA just makes me want to sanitize my hands, walk in and out the door 3 times and board a plane ASAP.
Anyhow, enough about me. Jon got a two-page spread I’ve taken the liberty of scanning below. He talks about the role of anxiety in his art shows like Because I Can’t Sit Still and Anxiety Room. He lists 21 Anxieties, including #7: “My favourite pens being discontinued.” My favorite bit is this quote, which I, maybe some of you, and most likely Mr. Woody Allen, relate to:
I’ve started trying to harness [anxiety's] debilitating energy into something useful. If it’s going to make me act in a strange way, I might as well use it for the entertainment of others or even myself.
Click the image below to read the full article.
Great Interview on Subvert
I think Jon always gives a good interview, but then, I’m probably biased. That said, this interview by Angel Greenham of Subvert Magazine is especially excellent. You should go there and read the whole thing right away, but here are a few of my favorite bits:
On Exercise: “Your body, whilst hurting and hating you for making it sweat also releases tiny pellets of golden happiness orbs into your soda-blood-stream (this is a scientific fact).”
On Creative Block: “Just relax, try not to stress and come back to it after eating some salad.”
On Fear: “Exhibitions are probably the scariest things, which is why I like doing them the most.”
On Failure: “Failure isn’t to be feared. Everything is just practice for the next time you’ll attempt it.”
So many inspirational words. Read it all here.
A Midnight Message From Bangalore
Actually, it’s 1:30 PM on Wednesday where Jon is in India, but enough about him. It’s midnight in California. Jon uploaded this video of his 3-hour trip from Bangalore to Mysore by car condensed down to under 60 seconds “for your viewing pleasure.” It’s like being there minus the car sickness!
I got a message to him asking if he was doodling, and how he was doing, to which he responded: “yes yes/ all good/ more later/ v tired/ hi to the rest of the world.”
Nottingham’s Book of Success
Nottingham Trent University publishes these lovely little books of success, and this one includes Jon, who graduated with honors! Stay in school, kids. Thanks to Amir for the scans.
The ARK: An Illustrated Animal Bible
The Ark Project is an animal bible curated by DGPH, illustrated by over 200 artists and published by IdN.
Just like Noah who saved the animal species in his ark, this project will try to rescue the ones surrounding us today inside this book, thanks to the work of some of the most important and talented visual artists, illustrators and contemporary designers. The idea was to create an animal bible showing the different species around the globe through the eyes of artists from each corner of the planet. Each of them selected a creature — an animal or species — to represent their birth place, which will be added to the Ark.
In addition to Jon’s Pine Marten, there are contributions by Touma, Bubi Au Yeung, Easy Hey, Yoskay Yamamoto and lots more. The ARK is available for $34 USD + shipping through IdN here and coming soon to bookstores near you.
Breaks of 10 Interview
Catching up on a slew of recent interview. Breaks of 10 has a nice one that goes back in time to get to the formative experiences of young Jon Burgerman.
Here’s a quick clip:
My old evil art teacher Mr Lucas used to lambast me for having a terrible notion of colour, so I find it surprising that now a lot people think I’m good with colour. It is very important to me. I like to think my use of colour if as important as my use of lines and shape.
Read the rest here.
Breaks Of 10 was born amidst the sudden unraveling of the Worlds Economic fabric, the abandonment of certainty, and the rise of social unrest across the globe. From the chronicles of History times of mass dislocation, dissolution and neglect act as catalyst in Inspiring creative thinking, impassioned voices, and a quickening of Cultural Revolution. On the verge of this new wave spilling from the global melting pot Breaks Of 10 will ride the swell documenting and generating opinion on creative peoples. Let this be the voice of all those bucking the trend and standing against the spread of subliminal depression and upheaval. We find inspiration from all four corners of the globe. We will showcase this talent and this undeterred sense of resolve.
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