You South Africa – 29 August 2019

Sch

eda videoofhimselfcreatinganimageof

TVpersonalitySimonCowellusingtoast

and Marmite and people were intrigued.

“Marmite was the first unusual ma-

terial I used,” he recalls. “I read a news-

paper headline about Simon Cowell that

said, ‘You either love him or hate him’,

and it fitted perfectly with Marmite

[which had a ‘love it or hate it’ campaign

at the time].

“And the obvious canvas seemed to be

toast. I put the video on YouTube and the

response was so great I knew I was on to

something there.”

N

ATHAN often posts time-

lapse videos of himself creat-

ing his art pieces and has

gained more than 10 million

views.

But it was his appearance

on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent,

“Itgavemesuchconfidencewhenpeo-

plefinallystarted telling me I was good

at it because I wasn’t used to being told

I was good at anything,” Nathan says.

“I was able to stand up and say I’d

made something of myself. Art has made

me more positive about myself – I love

having red hair and I love being an artist.”

Nathan, a huge Spice Girls fan, pushed

the budget a little when he recently cre-

ated a caviar portrait of Victoria Beck-

ham in homage to her Posh Spice alter

ego. He then moved on to the rest of the

girl group: Ginger Spice was created us-

ing real ginger spice; Baby took shape

from baby powder; Sporty was made

from mud because it’s outdoorsy; and

Scary emerged from glitter.

Some of Nathan’s more bizarre tech-

niques include using his hair clippings

for a portrait of fellow ginger Ed Sheeran,

painting a portrait of Miley Cyrus using

stickinghersout)andpaint

ingfleet-footedsoccerplayer David

Beckhamusinghisfeet.

More than 80 of his best portraits have

featured in a book called Not That Kind of

Art: The Pop Culture Portraits and he’s

amassed a slew of celebrity fans, including

heiress Paris Hilton, actor and author

Stephen Fry, model Ruby Rose and singer

Mariah Carey.

Like his hero, pop-art legend Andy

Warhol, Nathan realises his out-of-the-

box artworks aren’t exactly everyone’s

slice of toast.

“I don’t expect everyone to like what

I do,” he says. “I don’t mind if my work is

looked down upon. Most pop artists

were for so many years.”

And, unlike most other artists, Nathan

can always eat his art if things get really

tough. S

SOURCES: CATERS NEWS AGENCY/MAGAZINEFEATURES.CO.ZA,

WALESONLINE.CO.UK, MENTALFLOSS.COM,BBC.CO.UK

S h l f A t d D i i 2010 H t “d” ti ki h t) d i t

off.Several

bigcompanies–

includingMarmite,pencompanyBic,

coffeeconglomerateStarbucksandden-

talproductmanufacturerOral-B– have

commissionedhimtocreateartwork

usingtheirproductsasmarketingfor

theirbrands.

Nathan’s foodieartfadbeganwhenhe

wasafineartsstudentattheCardiff

wherehereached

the semifinals withhis

Marmite-on-toastportraits,thatreal-

lylaunchedhiscareer.

Hisloveofdrawingstartedata young

age whenhesketchedportraitsofhis

favouriteTVcharacters,includingPow-

erRangersandBuffytheVampireSlayer.

Asa teenagerheturnedtoarttohelp

himriseaboveschoolyardbullieswho

pickedon him for being a red-headed

“ ”

his

tongueas

a brush(aref-

erencetoherloveof

)

CATERS NEWS AGENCY/MAGAZINEFEATURES.CO.ZA, FACEBOOK/NATHAN WYBURN ART, GALLO IMAGES/ALAMY

ABOVE LEFT: Andy Warhol in soup. ABOVE RIGHT: Ed Sheeran
created with Nathan’s hair. RIGHT: Mariah Carey loved her pic.

TOP: Singer

Miley Cyrus.

ABOVE: Mr

Bean’s image in

baked beans.

Game of Thrones’ Kit Haringtoninsnow(ABOVELEFT)

and Queen Elizabeth ona pizzabase(ABOVERIGHT).

ton in snow (ABBOVVEELELEFFTFT)))

you.co.za 29 AUGUST 2019 | (^85)