Bristol, England based Mr Jago (Duncan Jago) is considered by many as a veteran of the urban art and design scene. Described as a pioneer of the ‘doodle’ or ‘scrawl’ movement, his skills lie in everything from painting and illustration to creating artwork and designs for some of the biggest international brands available.

With an interest in graffiti, street art, and hip-hop having grown up in the small village of Eye in Suffolk, Duncan moved to Bristol, to study illustration. It was in Bristol that Duncan met Steff Plaetz and Will Barras, who as founding members of the now renowned Scrawl Collective helped shape his/thier agency in the early days, and played an inaugural part in many of projects that helped create its name.

Duncan’s inspirations and influences span the cultures of hip-hop, comic books, and impressionist masters as well as Japanese manga, nature, and fellow artists such as Futura 2000 and Mode 2. Mr Jago has exhibited throughout his career, both as a solo artist and collective member, all over the world from London and Milan to LA and Tokyo.

Mr Jago’s work is almost impossible to define or pin down, but cannot be summed up any more succinctly than in a recent piece by Harlan Levey, Creative Director, Modart Magazine:

‘We can travel back with Mr Jago and look at how he soaked in the cultures brewing around him and took his inspiration in a completely different direction from so many other artists of his generation. His style often seems to be almost representative of much of what’s come out of hip hop, toy and graffiti art, and though he’s been working the rounds for more than a decade, there isn’t another artist out there who reminds you of Mr Jago. With the speed of information exchanged today how f**king rare is that? It isn’t copied and nobody has been able to copy it. This is because ‘it’ in this case, is Mr Jago. Period.’

Harlan later continues with:

‘I see figures and form everywhere, in water, carpet patterns, shadows, clouds, everything is an abstract character and they are free,’ says Jago. ‘Of all weather phenomena, I find clouds the most fascinating, from the silky filaments of high altitude cirrus to the towering, threatening mass of storm-bearing cumulonimbus, clouds are as varied as the new work itself. I love cloud watching, from no where the fluffy mass morphing shapes from a cunning fox with whispy ears to familiar faces.’

Apparent in Mr Jago’s work is its loose lines and organic flow. He describes his work as ‘itchy’ and ‘dynamic,’ with heavy movement and life, always searching for a new arrangement of lines. Robotic characters and multi-layered landscapes feature heavily. The free flowing strokes and organic colours in Mr Jago’s paintings explore the ideas of space and depth in the landscapes and the fast lines in his work attempt to make subject seem alive and animated. Mr Jago seems to have the ability to see a different world amongst the very mundane. These elements are very much reflected in this new body of work, along with a looser, more instinctive style. This evolution has seen the early ‘Scrawl Collective’ scratchy style through to these more free flowing, abstract and loose paintings.