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I attended the Reasons to be Creative conference last week here in NYC and was blown away by every single speaker. Such talent! Creativity! Passion! Truly amazing.

One of the more entertaining speakers — due to his charm and wackiness — was Jon Burgerman, a British expat living and working in Brooklyn, in addition to eating a lot of salad and pizza. An illustrator and street artist, Burgerman draws and paints colorful characters that have been made into Kidrobot toys, appeared on Pepsi cans, hats, sneakers and even a car or two. He is (as described on his website) “a multidisciplinarian carefully constructing a world in which the narrative of being an artist is played out across a wide variety of media for the distraction, enlightenment and delight of those who choose to tune in.” Also, a total goofball, in the best sense of the word.

He recently had a show in a pizza shop in New Jersey; walls filled with pizza slice characters on paper plates (I am now the proud owner of ‘Cheesus Slice’). His tribute to the recently passed Maurice Sendak and Beastie Boys’ MCA is perfect. And if all these projects aren’t enough, he performs with fellow artist and good friend Jim Avignon as Anxieteam, which, to me, has a low-budget Flight of the Conchords feel and looks like it would be a lot of fun to witness live.