Who Is Burrnd?
Burrnd is Ruggiero Colonna Romano, an Italian illustrator whose digital images of burned bodies out on the sand are wonderfully evocative of a day out at the beach. His sunbathers and swimmers frequently resemble large prawns, with skin rendered in a deep pinky-red. Colonna Romano has a cheeky eye for detail, be it a leopard print pair of Speedos or freshly painted toenails. Frequently cropped in close-up, bodies take on a strange abstraction at times, taking a moment to orientate and distinguish an elbow from a knee.
His subjects engage in the everyday activities typical of a summer holiday—albeit a less than idyllic take on the realities of being poolside in 2019; they squat over their phones, mindlessly scrolling on Instagram, or puff on a cigarette while looking listlessly out at the distant horizon. The fantasy of “sea, sex and sun”, as immortalized by Serge Gainsbourg, is playfully pulled apart by Burrnd, with the glamour and tans replaced instead with ill-fitting shorts and a deep, red burn.
Why Should You Follow?
There is a message of powerful inclusivity at the heart of Burrnd, for all the playful frivolity of its subject matter. Bodies of all shapes and sizes flop on the sand and lounge by the pool, and rolls, wrinkles and body hair are celebrated in all their glory. Seemingly every angle of the human body is zoomed in on, from top to toe, and cartoonish bums, boobs and bellies protrude throughout this Instagram feed. In the world of Burrnd, there is no such thing as “beach body ready”. All are welcome on these shores, rendered in soft pastel colours and its signature pink and lobster-red shades of burn.
What Instagram Doesn’t Tell You
Colonna Romano, the brains behind Burrnd, also puts out summer-ready music mixes under the moniker “Uruguay”, with blissed-out disco and house perfectly suited to easy listening by the pool. Stick on one of his mixes and scroll through his sunny world of reclining bodies and uninhibited nudity, perfect for dreams of long, sticky days and escapist fantasies of that long-awaited holiday. Just remember—always wear sunscreen.
