Nathan Wyburn
Encyclopedia
Nathan Wyburn is a Welsh
artist
, well known for his celebrity portraits using Marmite
on toast
.
, South Wales
and grew up nearby in Ebbw Vale
. Nathan attended Glyncoed Comprehensive school where he was appointed Head Boy and was always very punctual and academic which led to him achieving high standard grades in a wide range of subjects, including Art
. He continued to study both art and photography
throughout his college years where he realised this is where his ultimate passion lies. He is also an egotistical prick.
a portrait
of pop mogul Simon Cowell
on toast, using the controversial yeast extract, Marmite
. This was uploaded to his www.youtube.com/wyzynathan channel, which already exhibited various other celebrity graphite
drawings and pulled in over 3.5 Million hits. The inspiration
for the Cowell piece came when Nathan read that it's commonly known that he is a "love or hate" character which spurred on the thought about Marmite. The concept
was unique enough to have created the rest of Nathan's artistic career to date. The video was picked up by ITV
Wales news and Blue Peter
in which Nathan made appearances, as well as local press such as The Gwent Gazette and The Wales On Sunday. Followed by national press including The Sun and The Daily Mirror
. Marmite themselves then caught onto the hype and commissioned Nathan to be part of their "Love Hate" campaign in which he re-created the famous "Maid In London" piece by graffiti
artist, Bansky.
From the success of Nathan's Marmite work he became inspired to try unusual mediums. His Youtube channel now chronicles portraits including Katherine Jenkins
with Nutella
, Fabio Capello
with Bolagnese & pasta
sheets, Lady Gaga
& Alan Sugar
with sugar
and a portrait of David Beckham
created entirely with his feet. Two of Nathan's most creative pieces include a re-creation of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa
in 20ft of snow
, as well as an Andy Warhol
esc portrait of Marilyn Monroe
using over 500 tea light candles. The success of Nathan's work began to score as popular celebrity magazine OK!
, The Metro and various others featured his work. Nathan has also featured on Sky Sports
for his Capello and Andy Murray works, as well as completed commissions for big chain brands such as Costa
and Kettle Foods
.
Nathan then took a huge leap into the public eye by auditioning for Britain's Got Talent
in early 2011. Nathan created a portrait of comedian
, and judge Michael Mcintyre
using his established Marmite on toast skills. This was enough to impress all three judges, the others being Amanda Holden
and David Hasselhoff
. Nathan got through to the Semi Finals where his journey on the show came to an end. Using the platform the show gave him he took the experience and exposure in his stride and continued to create work. Since the show Nathan has had numerous TV, Radio and newspaper appearances, and created a portrait of The Queen
using 140 slices of toast and several jars of Marmite.
is a huge inspiration on Nathan's work. Their interest in celebrity and popular culture
is very alike. The use of certain celebrities as their subjects, and then adapting that figure's personality and traits into the medium or style in which they work to create the artwork. Nathan once said "If Warhol were alive I think he would use social networking sites such as Twitter
, Facebook
& Youtube
just like I do to get my work out there, I like the humour that often underlines my work such as the you either love him or hate him Cowell piece, and creating Beckham with my feet because he's a famous footballer". Other artists have also inspired Nathan's work including fellow food based artist Vik Muniz
, American photo realist Chuck Close
& Rolf Harris
.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, well known for his celebrity portraits using Marmite
Marmite
Marmite is the name given to two similar food spreads: the original British version, first produced in the United Kingdom and later South Africa, and a version produced in New Zealand...
on toast
Toast
Toast is bread that has been browned by exposure to radiant heat. This browning reaction is known as the Maillard reaction. Toasting warms the bread and makes it firmer, so it holds toppings more securely...
.
Early years
Nathan Wyburn was born on 24 October 1989 in AbergavennyAbergavenny
Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...
, South Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and grew up nearby in Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale
Ebbw Vale is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River, south Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough...
. Nathan attended Glyncoed Comprehensive school where he was appointed Head Boy and was always very punctual and academic which led to him achieving high standard grades in a wide range of subjects, including Art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
. He continued to study both art and photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
throughout his college years where he realised this is where his ultimate passion lies. He is also an egotistical prick.
Marmite and beyond
Nathan went on to study BA HONS Fine Art at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, where he is currently still in attendance. His breakthrough piece was a time lapse video of him paintingPainting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
a portrait
Portrait
thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...
of pop mogul Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
on toast, using the controversial yeast extract, Marmite
Marmite
Marmite is the name given to two similar food spreads: the original British version, first produced in the United Kingdom and later South Africa, and a version produced in New Zealand...
. This was uploaded to his www.youtube.com/wyzynathan channel, which already exhibited various other celebrity graphite
Graphite
The mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Ancient Greek γράφω , "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead . Unlike diamond , graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal...
drawings and pulled in over 3.5 Million hits. The inspiration
Artistic inspiration
Inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or other artistic endeavour. Literally, the word means "breathed upon," and it has its origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. The Greeks believed that inspiration came from the muses, as well as the gods Apollo and...
for the Cowell piece came when Nathan read that it's commonly known that he is a "love or hate" character which spurred on the thought about Marmite. The concept
Concept
The word concept is used in ordinary language as well as in almost all academic disciplines. Particularly in philosophy, psychology and cognitive sciences the term is much used and much discussed. WordNet defines concept: "conception, construct ". However, the meaning of the term concept is much...
was unique enough to have created the rest of Nathan's artistic career to date. The video was picked up by ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
Wales news and Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
in which Nathan made appearances, as well as local press such as The Gwent Gazette and The Wales On Sunday. Followed by national press including The Sun and The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an...
. Marmite themselves then caught onto the hype and commissioned Nathan to be part of their "Love Hate" campaign in which he re-created the famous "Maid In London" piece by graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artist, Bansky.
From the success of Nathan's Marmite work he became inspired to try unusual mediums. His Youtube channel now chronicles portraits including Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins is a Welsh mezzo-soprano. She is a classical-popular crossover singer who performs across a spectrum of operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre and hymns.-Early life and education:...
with Nutella
Nutella
Nutella is the brand name of a chocolate spread. Nutella, manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero, was introduced on the market in 1963. The recipe was developed from an earlier Ferrero spread released in 1944. Nutella is now sold in over 75 countries....
, Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello is an Italian football manager and former player. He is the manager of the England national football team.Capello has the distinction of winning the domestic league title with every club he has coached throughout his career...
with Bolagnese & pasta
Pasta
Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
sheets, Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
& Alan Sugar
Alan Sugar
Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar is a British entrepreneur, media personality and political advisor. From humble origins in the East End of London, Sugar now has an estimated fortune of £770m , and was ranked 89th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2011...
with sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
and a portrait of David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
created entirely with his feet. Two of Nathan's most creative pieces include a re-creation of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa is a portrait by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is a painting in oil on a poplar panel, completed circa 1503–1519...
in 20ft of snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
, as well as an Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
esc portrait of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
using over 500 tea light candles. The success of Nathan's work began to score as popular celebrity magazine OK!
OK!
OK! is a British weekly magazine specializing in celebrity news. Originally launched as a monthly, its first issue was published in April 1993. In September 2004, OK! publishers Northern and Shell launched in Australia as a monthly title – the magazine went weekly in October 2006...
, The Metro and various others featured his work. Nathan has also featured on Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
for his Capello and Andy Murray works, as well as completed commissions for big chain brands such as Costa
Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee is a British coffeehouse company founded in 1971 by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa, as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. Since 1995 it has been a subsidiary of Whitbread, since when the company has grown to over...
and Kettle Foods
Kettle Foods
Kettle Foods is an international manufacturer of potato chips, tortilla chips, and nut butters based in Salem, Oregon, United States, with a European and Middle East headquarters in Norwich, United Kingdom. As of 2006 they were the largest natural potato chip brand in the U.S...
.
Nathan then took a huge leap into the public eye by auditioning for Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent (series 5)
The fifth series of Britain's Got Talent began on 16 April 2011 and ended on 4 June 2011. The winner of the show was Jai McDowall, who received £100,000 and a place at the 2011 Royal Variety Performance. The show was hosted by Ant & Dec on ITV, while Stephen Mulhern presented Britain's Got More...
in early 2011. Nathan created a portrait of comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, and judge Michael Mcintyre
Michael McIntyre
Michael Hazen James McIntyre is an English stand-up comedian. He is well known for appearing at many British stand-up comedy events and for several roles on television stand-up programmes such as Live at the Apollo and his own show, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow...
using his established Marmite on toast skills. This was enough to impress all three judges, the others being Amanda Holden
Amanda Holden
Amanda Louise Holden is an English actress and presenter. Among her roles are Mia Bevan in Cutting It, Sarah Trevanion in Wild at Heart, and the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award...
and David Hasselhoff
David Hasselhoff
David Michael Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch...
. Nathan got through to the Semi Finals where his journey on the show came to an end. Using the platform the show gave him he took the experience and exposure in his stride and continued to create work. Since the show Nathan has had numerous TV, Radio and newspaper appearances, and created a portrait of The Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
using 140 slices of toast and several jars of Marmite.
Inspiration
Andy WarholAndy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
is a huge inspiration on Nathan's work. Their interest in celebrity and popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
is very alike. The use of certain celebrities as their subjects, and then adapting that figure's personality and traits into the medium or style in which they work to create the artwork. Nathan once said "If Warhol were alive I think he would use social networking sites such as Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
& Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
just like I do to get my work out there, I like the humour that often underlines my work such as the you either love him or hate him Cowell piece, and creating Beckham with my feet because he's a famous footballer". Other artists have also inspired Nathan's work including fellow food based artist Vik Muniz
Vik Muniz
Vicente José de Oliveira Muniz, known as Vik Muniz , is a visual artist living in New York City.-Early career:Muniz began his career as a sculptor in the late 1980s after relocating from Brazil to Chicago and later to New York. His early work grew out of a post-Fluxus aesthetic and often involved...
, American photo realist Chuck Close
Chuck Close
Charles Thomas "Chuck" Close is an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits...
& Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
.
External links
- http://www.youtube.com/wyzynathan
- http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2804947/Cowell-pic-made-out-of-Marmite.html
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/southeastwales/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8559000/8559761.stm
- http://www.thefreelibrary.com/LADY+IN+SPREAD%3B+Love+him+or+hate+him...Valleys+student+is+toast+of...-a0224194875
- http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/blaenau-gwent/2010/06/17/celebrities-spread-the-word-about-nathan-s-artwork-91466-26656055/
- http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/09/09/marmite-masterpiece-artist-uses-toast-as-canvas-for-celebrity-portraits-of-david-beckham-and-stephen-fry-115875-22549015/
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Ft_zns
- http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/3567225/Michael-McIntyre-gets-toasted.html
- http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/showbiz/2011/05/09/in-pictures-toast-artist-nathan-wyburn-91466-28661598/
- http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/06/10/britain-s-got-talent-star-nathan-whyburn-s-very-special-toast-for-the-queen-s-birthday-91466-28853285/
- http://www.twitter.com/nathanwyburn1