Jon Burgerman Returns To 1xRUN With City Girl

1xRun: Tell us a little bit about this piece, what materials did you use? Is the original still for sale? When was the piece drawn and created?  How long did the piece take?  
Jon Burgerman:  The piece was drawn using a gel pen, a felt tip pen and a brush pen. I rarely use a brush pen so the piece is sort of special for that reason. I wanted it to have a more pulpy-comic-book feel to it. The original is not for sale. It was drawn and created over a few days following my first trip to Mexico in November 2012.

1xRun: Can you tell us how the idea and execution came about?    
Jon Burgerman:  This piece is about the city, the people, the noise, the chatter, the barrage of signs and signals. It’s about the chaos of urban dwelling, a beautiful disaster of our own making.

Following nearly 3 weeks in Mexico and then returning to New York my head was full of colour, chaos and people. It’s a delicate dance, as the sprawl crawls across the land, swallowing up all in its path, we all participate in. It’s amazing and wondrous but also seems to me to be just one moment away from calamity. This is how we all choose to live, for the first time ever more than 50% of the worlds population lives in a city, for the connivance and connection, yet it distances us away from our natural surroundings and earthly beginnings.

1xRun: What is unique about this piece?     
Jon Burgerman:  It could never be remade. It is a complete product of my experience and environment and as such is a time capsule from me as an artist, here in the dog days of 2012.

1xRun: Why should people buy this print?    
Jon Burgerman: The energy! The colours! The flow and movement! I do not make many prints like this so it’s a good opportunity to grab something special from me.

1xRun: Describe this print in one gut reaction word.     
Jon Burgerman:  Shambeautiful.

1xRun: When did you first start making art?  What was your first piece?   
Jon Burgerman:  Since 2001. My first piece? It’s difficult to say – I  made a lot of things all at once!

1xRun: What artists inspired you early on?  What artists inspire you now?
Jon Burgerman: Early on it was  Basquait, Hockney, Picasso, Schwitters, Katz, Caulfield, Twombly, Creed, Tyson, Shrigley. Currently it is Javier Mariscal,Yoshitomo Nara, Barry McGee, Mike Mills, Phil Frost, Keith Haring, Chris Ware, Paul Davis, Devilrobots, Adam Neate, Alex One, Kris Martin, Dave The Chimp, Larry David, Sarah Silverman, Eddie Martinez, Alison Knowles, John Cooper Clarke, Mark E Smith, Vincent Gallo.

1xRun: Do you listen to music while you work? If so what? If not then what is your environment like when you work?
Jon Burgerman:  Yes, gotta have some music on whilst I work and think and draw and drink:   Alain Goraguer, Kumisolo, We Show Up On RadaR, Hot Chip, Sparklehorse, Jonathan Richman, Luke Abbott, Burial, Aksak Maboul, JMZ Smith, Sarah Vaughan, Angelo Badalamenti, The Fall, D√©bruit, Egyptrixx, Kozzie, Maxsta. (Ed. Note: You can listen to Jon Burgerman’s lastfm radio station at  http://www.last.fm/user/jonburgerman and hear his band Anxieteam below)

1xRun: If you could collaborate with any living artist who would it be and why? With any deceased artist?
Jon Burgerman:  John Cooper Clarke – he could write a poem and I could provide live visuals for the performance. I like the spit and bile approach to his prose and his wry, dry humour.  For the latter, it would be Picasso, we could wear matching stripey sweaters.

1xRun: What else have you been up to? What else do you have in the works?
Jon Burgerman:   I am currently working on some TV projects which are long term, slowly coming together type things. Next year I will do more touring with my band Anxieteam, more workshops, lectures and exhibitions around the US and Europe. Hopefully I will get to visit the Far East too.

1xRun: Where else can people find you? 
Jon Burgerman:   WebsiteFacebookTwitter

-1xRUN