Jon Burgerman interview.

I first became aware of Jon Burgermans work a couple of years ago when a friend from my foundation course said that some of my work looks like his ,I'm in no way into ripping off other peoples work and quite frankly had never heard of him.So I decided to check out Burgermans work and from then on I became a fan.So I decided to interview him...

I've noticed you often use old scraps of paper ,cardboard and envelopes to draw on.Do you consciously chose these materials to work on , or are they just lying around at the time?
Both - they are lying around and I decide to use them, rather than throw them away. I like the idea of work being made on materials that might be otherwise be discarded or thought as worthless rubbish. After the work has been applied the material seems to have worth again, it's
the replenishing powers of art!

You have had commissions for the likes of mtv,nike and the science museum,how did these come about?
Word of mouth mainly,along with the right people seeing my work somewhere and having a commission available that
would suit my style and ideas.Often you can't force a commission,something suitable just has to come along,at the right time.

 
What would be your dream company to approach you to create work for them?
I'd like to make some cardigans with Henrik Vibskov.

As many of your pieces are originals do you take hard copies of them?
I scan smaller pieces and photograph the rest with a big fancy camera (or get my friend Nathan to photo them
with his really big fancy camera - http://nathanbeddows.blogspot.com/ ) I try and document everything I do, but you can't really recreate an
original, which is the point of one.

What is the best piece of criticism you've received about your work?
Tough question this, you don't get proper constructive criticism once you leave education. I guess don't try and be something you're not.

What is the worst piece of criticism you've received about your work?
That it looks like a child has drawn it. I mean, children often have amazing imaginations and their drawings are really loose, free and
uninhibited. I wish I could draw like that.

Did your tutors at university like your drawing style?
Some did and a few didn't like what I was doing at all. You can't please everyone though and if you try to your work will suffer. You
have to learn to live with criticism and work with it and learn from it too.


Are there any upcoming collaborations/projects/commissions planned?
Yes, there are many! I have an exhibition in London in October. Late September will see my new, 300 page book 'Pens are my Friends' released
by idN and my toy series 'Heroes of Burgertown' by Kid Robot released too.

Personally i think your work shares some similarities with the work  of Joan Miro ,would you agree with this? if not who would you compare
yourself to if you had to?
I really liked Miros work when I was younger, I haven't looked at it much at all in the last 10 years or so though. I wouldn't want to
compare myself to anyone, it wouldn't feel right.

Lastly what is your view on the graphic design / illustrative industry at the moment?
There's a lot of interesting things going on and some cool new styles emerging. Some of it is faddy too, which always happens when people
think it's cool to be an illustrator or designer etc and then just follow trends instead of following their own line of enquiries within
their practices.

check out:
www.jonburgerman.com