Nathan Wyburn

Wyburn is from Ebbw Vale, South Wales and studied Art at both GCSE and A-level.[1][2] After leaving school he undertook a degree in Fine Art at Cardiff School of Art & Design.[3]

In 2010 he posted a YouTube video of himself creating a portrait of TV personality Simon Cowell, made using Marmite on toast.[4] Alongside other time lapse videos Wyburn has gained in excess of 10 million video views. He was featured on the BBC children's TV programme, Blue Peter.[4] He subsequently featured on other TV shows, including ITV News and Sky Sports, where he created a portrait of England football manager Fabio Capello using bolognese sauce and pasta.[5] He received messages of support from celebrities including singer Katherine Jenkins and pop star Justin Bieber.[5]

In 2011 Wyburn appeared as a contestant on the TV talent show Britain's Got Talent, where he created a portrait of judge Michael McIntyre, again using Marmite on toast. He reached the semi-finals where he attempted elaborate portraits of Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, but failed to live up to expectations, with the judges telling him he had taken on too much in the short time available. This also led to other television appearances such as Daybreak and Lorraine. He later decided to create an image of Queen Elizabeth II, as he had missed out on the prize to meet her.[6]

In 2012, at the height of the News International phone hacking scandal, Wyburn's portrait of Rupert Murdoch, made from 5,000 images of alleged phone-hacking victims, appeared on the front page of The Guardian. Wyburn's work was also recognized as part of the London 2012 Olympic Games under Education Relays when he held a one-off edible art exhibition, featuring British Olympians at Bournemouth Arts College and quoted "Amazing" by Diver Tom Daley. In 2013 he entered the Austrian equivalent talent contest, Die große Chance,[7] finishing in the last fifteen and gaining praise from Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst after creating her portrait using glitter.[8] Other international projects for Wyburn include creating toothpaste art at the '15th International Dental Congress' in Istanbul and a 10-day stint in a purpose-built glass container in the centre of Helsinki, where he created over 50 portraits of Felix Ketchup fans using the product, boosting sales by 18%. Wyburn continued to have TV appearances including a performance on the Spanish version of Don't Stop Me Now and as Sky Portrait Artist of the Year.[9]

Shortly after the death of Margaret Thatcher, Wyburn created a portrait of her using coal.[10] The artwork won 1st prize in a nationwide open art competition entitled Britain's Got Artists judged by George Galloway.[11]

Brands such as Marmite, Bic, the Famous Company, Oral-B, Costa, Starbucks, Morrisons and Hovis have independently commissioned Wyburn.[12] Wyburn's work has received plaudits from a number of celebrity admirers including Perez Hilton,[13] Stephen Fry, Ruby Rose, Tyler Oakley, Joanna Lumley, Keith Lemon and Alan Carr.

From 1 August to 21 September 2014 Wyburn exhibited at the Cardiff Story Museum.[14] Previous exhibitions include Barnabas Arts House and Queens Arcade, Cardiff.

In May 2015 Wyburn created a portrait of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, the infant daughter of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, using 1,000 babygrows.[15] In May 2015 he also created a portrait of Welsh rugby international Adam Jones using mud.[16]

For Father's Day 2015 Wyburn teamed up with Morrison's supermarket to create pizzas featuring five famous fathers: David Beckham, Tom Fletcher, Gary Barlow Simon Cowell and Marvin Humes.[17] Other notable works by Wyburn include Miley Cyrus painted entirely with his tongue, David Beckham painted with his feet, Jesus Christ using chocolate and Lady Gaga using Coca-Cola.

Wyburn had pinned his success on his self-confessed "Warhol like obsession" with pop culture and the notion of celebrity. His biggest artistic influences are Andy Warhol, Chuck Close and Vik Muniz. In a September 2015 interview with the BBC, Wyburn said of his own work: "It is current to current affairs and current to pop culture. I don't see why that should not be shown in a gallery, in the Tate Gallery or the National Gallery" adding "I do strive to be taken seriously. It would be nice to get that sort of recognition." He had recently learned that he would be taught as part of the GCSE art curriculum in Wales and he described the possibility of himself being mentioned in the same lesson as his hero Andy Warhol as "mind-blowing".[18] Wyburn has also been included on the website for Ripley's Believe It or Not! franchise.[19]

Wyburn is also known for viral Facebook videos such as Eminem created with spaghetti[20] which received over 15 million views, after it was posted by LADbible and Ruby Rose shared her artwork created using pizza.

In November 2015 his book Not That Kind of Art, featuring 80 of his works, was published by Candy Jar.[21] In December 2015 Wyburn created portraits of Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, from the rock group Status Quo, out of matchsticks, inspired by their 1969 song "Pictures of Matchstick Men".[22] He also created images of Star Wars characters from food products, including lead characters Rey (Daisy Ridley) made from tomato puree and Finn (John Boyega) made from tikka paste.[23]

Wyburn once again received attention on social media in January 2016 after creating a viral video of an 8 ft portrait of Justin Bieber entirely with lipstick, by kissing the canvas. In March 2016 Wyburn gave a talk and made live toast art at a TED (conference) alongside Procter & Gamble in Geneva, Switzerland. To celebrate the 40th year of The Prince's Trust, Wyburn collaborated with the charity to make a portrait of its ambassador Paloma Faith using thousands of images of people involved with the trust. The portrait was then projected on to some of the UK's landmark buildings, including Liverpool's Royal Liver Building and City Hall in London, Glasgow and Cardiff. A similar portrait of HRH Prince Charles was also commissioned and presented to him at Buckingham Palace by Dame Joan Collins. July 2016 marked the 20th anniversary of the Spice Girls, to celebrate this Wyburn created portraits of the 5 members Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Mel B, Melanie C & Geri Halliwell using mediums inspired by their personas which included Caviar, Baby Powder & Ground Ginger Spice. Melanie C later received a drawing from Wyburn and branded him "Absolutely amazing!"

In August 2016, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Techniquest science museum, Wyburn created a portrait of scientist Albert Einstein using thousands of Smarties. He also painted a portrait of actor Gene Wilder, using chocolate, as a tribute to the late comic actor.[24] To raise awareness of World AIDS Day on Dec 1st 2016, Wyburn created a red glitter portrait of singer & Queen icon, Freddie Mercury, who died of the disease in 1991.

Throughout March and April 2017, the Welsh language channel S4C, aired 7 consecutive art segments featuring 7 unique artworks being created by Wyburn. These included a painting of Gareth Bale with his feet, Sam Warburton with mud, Zoella with glitter and Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow created using sand and seaweed on Barry Island beachfront.

In May 2017, Wyburn created a celebratory image of Skepta for the British music company The Famous Company by using images of unsigned artists from around the world.[25]

Wyburn received further national television coverage in July 2017 when he appeared on the ITV magazine show This Morning. He was interviewed by presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, who were given an artwork created using lipstick with kisses from his lips. Wyburn's celebrity admirers continued to grow as he presented work to the likes of Jennifer Saunders, TOWIE star Gemma Collins, Steps and Taylor Momsen.

In November 2017 Wyburn painted a picture of Jesus using a sausage roll and ketchup, in response to an advertisement for Greggs which showed a sausage roll in place of the holy infant on their advent calendars.[26]

On New Year's Eve 2017, ITV aired a panel show hosted by Fern Britton titled A Right Royal Quiz which featured a cameo appearance from Wyburn, showcasing some of his royal portraits including a new artwork of The Queen using pizza. This was shortly followed by a widely successful ad campaign by Dr Beckmann, a cleaning product company which commissioned the artist to use its award-winning carpet stain remover, to make a 20-foot (6.1 m) image of newly engaged Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by removing stains from a dirty carpet.

In March 2018 Wyburn created an image of the Mona Lisa in snow at Roath Park in Cardiff, alongside portraits of Jon Snow & Idina Menzel which were featured as a global Twitter ‘moment’.[27] In April 2018 Wyburn performed live art at Wales Comic Con weekend where he created several portraits of the special guests, including actor Andrew Scott.[28]

In July 2018 Wyburn created a portrait of Welsh politician Aneurin Bevan, on the moors near the highest village in Wales, Trefil, during the 70th anniversary week of the National Health Service. The artwork, which took eight and a half hours to complete, was made entirely out of local materials, including 374 kg of garden soil and 74 kg of white stone dust. It is Wyburn's largest piece to date.[29]

Autumn 2018 saw Wyburn team up with home improvement store B&Q to recreate a 15-metre (49 ft) replica of the Mona Lisa using fallen autumn leaves and a Bosch leaf blower. The latest celebrities in 2018 to praise Wyburn's work include Melanie B[30] and Mariah Carey who tweeted saying she "loves this" in reply to his portrait of her.[31]