JumpDay: A Talk in the Shop with Mr Bingo
We always have fun on our JumpDays. But this month’s team-bonding session came loaded with wit, humour and big laughs thanks to the unique, brilliant talents of the artist known as Mr Bingo.
Mr Bingo (a name he picked up after winning £141.26 at Gala Bingo in Maidstone in 1998) was a commercial illustrator for 15 years, working regularly for clients such as The New Yorker, The Guardian, TIME, CH4, The Mighty Boosh and The New York Times.
But after realising his personal ‘leftfield’ creative projects were proving popular he decided to never work for clients ever again and focus on being – in his words – ‘some sort of artist’.
One of those early projects was called Hate Mail and involved people eagerly volunteering to have Mr Bingo send them (or someone they nominated) a postcard with a beautifully hand-drawn abusive, very funny message. People couldn’t get enough of them.
In order to create a book about the project, Mr Bingo started a Kickstarter campaign that featured a rap video and a diverse selection of rewards including being trolled, having your washing up done, going on a date in Wetherspoons, being told to fuck off on Christmas Day and getting shitfaced on a train.
Mr Bingo currently works at his studio / shop in Amwell Street, London – coincidentally only a short hop from Jump’s first office in Rosebery Avenue.
And it’s in this very studio space the Jump Team gathered to hear Mr Bingo’s ‘A Talk in the Shop’ where we learned about his life, career, how he got there and what he’s learned along the way.
Russell Hilliard – Director at Jump:
“Not only is Mr Bingo a super-talented artist who has a remarkable skill for simple, occasionally sweary but always hilarious observations on life… he is also an excellent storyteller and presentation-giver. What a great fun talk – thank you Mr. Bingo.”
Something Mr Bingo only offers in his shop – is a ‘while you wait commission’. We saw this as a great opportunity to run a competition and invited the Jump Team to submit ideas for a Mr Bingo original piece of work. There were some excellent suggestions – but Mr Bingo chose Callum’s and Hannah’s as his favourites – and they both left with a unique memento.
Callum O’Reilly – Animator at Jump:
“It was fascinating and entertaining to hear Mr Bingo’s artistic journey to where he is now. He’s built a worldwide community of like-minded folk who don’t take life too seriously and love a witty insult.
I’m thrilled that Mr Bingo chose my traumatic childhood story to immortalise in his funny, straight-to-the-point, and very well crafted art.”
Check out Mr Bingo’s website or follow him on Instagram – which we highly recommend you do for regular laughs.
Some of our other JumpDays have included Pickleball, the Tim Burton Exhibition, and wallclimbing.
