A Very Nice Person

Paul Hough: Jon, how would you best describe yourself?

Jon Burgerman: A very nice person.

Some people ask me are you a designer or an illustrator? It does come into the work that I do - I’m not a cartoonist – I prefer artist, so I ask people not to call me any of the above as it suggests I only work in one discipline.

PH: At the end of 2008 you visited Japan and this year has seen you already exhibiting in New York, Milan, and Barcelona, where next?

JB: I’m off to the US, Los Angeles, I’m a bit scared of the heat, it gets very hot in the summer!

It just happens that at the moment I do get to travel with exhibitions and work, but it’s nice because people do know me through my work, the world is getting smaller. Then possibly to China in October / November for an exhibition in Beijing, I have exhibited there before, but I just sent the work and didn’t get to go, although it’s not 100% it’s looking very likely. I don’t really like talking about stuff until it’s confirmed, but it is nice now having a choice. I have learned not to try and do everything, I’d get too stressed, so I do now try and space out the big trips.

Lossy Data Lab

PH: How does it feel having a ‘global’ following?

JB: It feels strange – but why not? I like bands and artists from other places. I am getting used to it, it’s nice to get e-mails and it’s nice that people pay attention and recognise my work. Sometimes my own parents don’t recognise my work, so it’s good that someone in Taiwan does!

PH: Yet you still return to Nottingham – why is this city so important to you?

JB: It does feel like home but it is a question that does raise its head when I’m in New York or Japan, I never decided to stay here for 10 years after graduating from NTU, but Nottingham is easy to get to London and other cities, plus I have friends here. I don’t think I’ll always live here, as people move away. Sometimes it does get frustrating, events here do start to feel like it’s just Art for the Art crowd. The loss of independent shops in the city is a bad thing at present; it takes the heart out of the city, particularly in Hockley. It’s time for a regeneration, if young people are supported, then it can happen – rise like a Phoenix from the flames (!) or maybe that’s because I’m starting to feel like an outsider, just visiting and observing.

PH: Your work has been commissioned by some pretty big household names recently, including: Nike, Pepsi, Sky and IKEA – what is it like working for these companies?

JB: Big companies can be good, it’s the same as doing work for someone local but it reaches a bigger audience. The process is generally okay, some can be more shambolic than the small companies! I generally do get a lot of freedom but although there will be more reviews and panels for it to go through. The really good ones allow me total freedom and I won’t take on work if they just want me to draw someone on a skateboard. It was actually good at Pepsi, a lot of freedom for such a big company, but I’m still waiting for my samples over a year on. I had to go out to my local shop and buy one of the bottles to photograph!

I don’t go out of my way to seek out these companies, they come to me. I like to experiment with products, in my degree show I stuck a sticker on a Pepsi can, so maybe I’ve lost my way and things have gone full circle! It still feels like a novelty when a big company asks you to do stuff for them. I do turn stuff down if I don’t want to do it. The worst thing is if they’ve seen something that you’ve done for someone else and they just want you to do a version for them. It takes a long time. They often want your full attention too, which is hard for me when I’m trying to work on other projects and my own stuff.

PH: Apart from these and other big corporates, your work is also available through (and supports) smaller independent companies – why is this important?

JB: With the local stuff it’s no different really, they are usually just nice people I like working with. I did some art work for some shoes recently for a Nottingham band Swound as a favour. I know them, they’re four brothers, I think, and they came around one day to buy stuff, we got on, so I just helped them out. It was simple and fun, I kind of befriended them.

Broadway Beermats

I judge things by the project, not if it’s big or small, corporate or indie. It’s nice when people ask; it’s the people that are involved that’s important. It’s also about the time, will I enjoy it or will it drag on and become a stressful nightmare? It seems ridiculous that if I give someone a drawing I can help them – but people do genuinely want me involved. I’m not trying to say I’m doing it to make me feel good but it’s not just because their ‘small and local’. If it’s interesting I’ll get involved, big or small.

PH: The book ‘Pens are my Friends’ has been really well received, are there plans for another one?

JB: Yes, but not the same. There’s seven years of work in ‘Pens’, so maybe in seven years time!  It was a proper hard nightmare for 6 months to get it finished. I did do a smaller book ‘Grubba Grubs’ for a Spanish publisher ROJO and I’d like to do more smaller books. I’m currently working in on a ‘colouring in book’ , I recently did the colouring in wallpaper, made by a company called Nineteenseventythree, so now if people ask me to draw on their walls I can say buy the paper instead! The wallpaper has been really successful, it’s been featured regularly in design magazines, websites, designer blogs, etc. it’s gone really well and is in really high demand.

PH: So what’s next?

JB: I’ve just started my own company called Burger. I’m working with two business partners and trying out new things, things I can’t or don’t want to do for others. ‘No talent, just gimmicks’ was a tagline for products when I was a student and had a ‘pretend’ company. I’m thinking of using it again and it’s worrying that no one disagrees! It’s important that I’ve got some control, instead of just handing everything over to someone else.

It’s probably not the best time to be starting a new company, with people being a lot more cautious with finance but it gives me the opportunity to try some different products, like laptop and iPhone cases, not just t-shirts and prints. Interesting things that take time to develop, maybe a year and you won’t find them anywhere else.

It’s been good to do more exhibitions recently; it’s time also to do some of my own non-commercial stuff.

At the Scope Art Fair in New York was really good to be at alongside ‘proper’ galleries. The piece Lossy Data Lab developed from an idea to do something live there, it was like my studio space, held together with cardboard and tape, very different to the other exhibitors. Some people liked it – some didn’t. The whole thing was very tiring as I generated work every day, some new stuff and some that was suggested by questionnaires filled in by people visiting the space and experiments they partook in.

Gribba Grub Book

I’d like to do more stuff like this, not exactly like this, but doing it in different places, broadening my own experience and opportunities to work in different ways. I’ve also just done my first font, I was asked by Hype for Type, I think he just expected my hand writing but I designed the whole thing, a whole new font, I’m not sure who’ll actually use it though? I don’t think I’ll be doing many more in the future!

PH: I’ve always been a fan of Jon’s work (my kids are too) and I can guarantee Jon Burgerman is genuinely “a very nice person”.

Jon’s work can be seen and purchased via his website www.jonburgerman.com alongside video clips and photos of recent events.

Paul Hough managed the Nottingham Creative Network until 2008 and now runs the Creative Greenhouse www.creativegreenhouse.org.uk a network for creative businesses across North Nottinghamshire and North Derbyshire. When he’s not doing that he is an honorary associate of the National Review of Live Art festival, live art documentary maker, writer and nice person too. 

All images in this article are © Jon Burgerman.