Ron
English (born 1966) is an American contemporary artist who
explores brand imagery and advertising. Born in Dallas, Texas, he is
known for the use of color and comic book collage.
Career
One
of the most prolific and recognizable artists alive today, Ron
English has bombed the global landscape with unforgettable images, on
the street, in museums, in movies, books and television. English
coined the term POPaganda to describe his signature mash-up of high
and low cultural touchstones, from superhero mythology to totems of
art history, populated with his vast and constantly growing arsenal
of original characters, including MC Supersized, the obese fast-food
mascot featured in the hit movie “Supersize Me,” and Abraham
Obama, the fusion of America’s 16th and 44th Presidents, an image
widely discussed in the media as directly impacting the 2008
election. Other characters carousing through English’s art, in
paintings, billboards, and sculpture include three-eyed rabbits,
udderly delicious cowgirls and grinning skulls, blending stunning
visuals with the bitingly humorous undertones of America’s Premier
Pop Iconoclast. English was one of the on-camera subjects interviewed
for the documentary Super Size Me (2004), which showcased his
McDonald's-themed artwork -- inspired by English's belief about the
effect of fast food franchises and restaurant chains on the American
culture.
"Abraham
Obama" Abraham Obama during the 2008 US Presidential Election is
a significant creation made with a "portrait-fusion" of the
America’s 16th and 44th Presidents.
English
has also painted several album covers including The Dandy Warhols
album cover Welcome to the Monkey House and the cover of the 2010
album Slash. He later painted the Chris Brown album cover for
F.A.M.E. Some of his paintings were used in the Morgan Spurlock
documentaries Super Size Me and POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest
Movie Ever Sold. Following the credits, he receives special thanks
and is credited as "The Greatest Living Artist."
English
has also collaborated with Daniel Johnston and Jack Medicine in the
Hyperjinx Tricycle project. English most recently created the artwork
for Art Nouveau Magazine's first print issue.
English
is the subject of a Pedro Carvajal documentary entitled Popaganda,
named after one of his art books. He is also a subject of "The
Art Army" action figures by Michael Leavitt.
English
and his fellow artists Shepard Fairey, Kenny Scharf and Robbie Conal
guest-starred on the March 4, 2012, episode of the television program
The Simpsons, "Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart".
English's
work has most recently been featured in Seth Rogan's film This is the
End and Movie 43
Street Art
Ron
English's detailed, prolific oil painting skills are credited to his
early background as an art reproducer. His street art techniques
blend stunning visuals with biting political, consumerist and
surrealist statements.
English
has initiated and participated in illegal public art campaigns since
the early eighties. Some of his extralegal murals include one on the
Berlin Wall's Checkpoint Charlie in 1989 and one on the Palestinian
separation wall in the West Bank in 2007, with fellow street artists
Banksy and Swoon (artist).
Culture
jamming is one aspect of English's work. Although never an official
member, Ron joined forces with the Billboard Liberation Front on
several occasions. The B.L.F. practices culture jamming by altering
billboards by changing key words to radically alter the message,
often to an anti-corporate message. Frequent targets of Ron's work
include Joe Camel, McDonald's, and Mickey Mouse. Ron English can be
considered the "celebrated prankster father of dollar-pop",
who wrangles carefully created corporate, and are used against the
very corporation they are meant to represent. He is also widely
considered a seminal figure in the advancement of modern contemporary
art from traditional wild-style lettering and into clever statement
and masterful contemporary art.
During
the 2008 Presidential Election, he combined the features of Barack
Obama and Abraham Lincoln for a distributed image entitled "Abraham
Obama". He created an oil painting, which was photographed to
produce a print. The “Abraham Obama” print was sold to raise
funds for and promote the Obama campaign. 200 prints were created.
“Abraham Obama” was also used in a series of street murals
installed in Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Denver.
The image was shown on television and in newspapers and magazines in
countries including Argentina, Brazil, Britain, France, Poland, and
Iran. The mural consisted of the image, repeated in rainbow effect
color combinations of 14 panels, each 12 by 6 foot. Portions of the
celebratory video of Will.i.am’s “It’s a New Day” were filmed
in front of the LA Abraham Obama mural.
Ron's
culture jamming technique forces the consumers of the world to take a
harder look at corporation-dominated society. Ron does this by using
his over emphasized, grotesque, and to some, offensive, characters to
intrigue the consumer, luring them in to reveal the truth behind the
product.
Recently
Ron has refocused his culture jamming attention from billboards to
another form of advertising; product packaging. Ron recreates several
different packaging platforms from cereal boxes, to milk carton, to
cigarette packs, to reveal truth in advertising. After designing the
packaging English and his Team POPaganda infiltrate different
retailers around the country and "shop gift", leaving
consumers to consume the uncomfortable truth behind the products they
intend to purchase. Some of Ron's most popular product packaging
designs include, "Cap'n Corn Starch", "Duncan High
Hash Brownies" and "Camel Kool's" THC Enriched Tobacco
Cigarettes.
Fine Art
English
is a fine art painter specializing in oils. After receiving his MFA
from The University of Texas he relocated to New York City and
apprenticed with several artists, gradually beginning to sell his own
work. His dominant style is characterized by extreme photo realism,
striking use of secondary color and appropriation of pop imagery. He
is considered by many to be one of the more skilled renderers of his
generation. Frequent themes are revisiting and reworking childhood
from the vantage point of adult skill as well as examining the darker
meanings behind garish pop surface imagery. English also tends to use
historical imagery as a template to explore universal issues.
Frequently he reworks such images as The Last Supper, Starry Night,
and Picasso's Guernica.
English has appropriated many well known images and characters from pop culture, reworking them into his own signature images. Some of these include a reworking of Charlie Brown into his "Grin" character and one of his famous "MC Supersized" based on the idea that Ronald McDonald ate his own product. Another signature image of the idealized American female is his image of Marilyn Monroe with Mickey Mouse breasts.
In 2006, English exhibited "Grade School Guernica", one of his versions of Picasso's "Guernica", at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art in Houston. The painting depicts the scene acted out by his children viewed from the point of view of the bomber airplane. "Grade School Guernica" explores the nature of violence, from schoolyard play to global carnage, as it comments on the embedding of propaganda into cultural references largely taken for granted.
"Lazarus Rising" was English's first exhibit in the UK, at Elms Lesters Painting Rooms in London. The show featured a comic book collage and oil on canvas pieces, where if you looked carefully, you would trace the genesis of the characters and follow the arc of their inner life.
His exhibition "Season In Supurbia" took place in 2009 at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City.
"POPagandastan" was exhibited in 2013, also at the Corey Helford Gallery.
Art Toys
In
2005 English began creating designer toy versions of his iconic
creatures and has been producing these collectables ever since.
English has produced over 50 different designer toys since his first
in 2005. Ron English has become a leading member of the designer
vinyl toy movement.
Ronnnie Rabbbit was English's first designer toy, produced in 2005 by Dark Horse.
English
has also collaborated with other artists to produce toys. In 2013, he
teamed up with SLASH to create a limited edition fiberglass bust of
the now iconic image used for the SLASH & FRIENDS album artwork.
English
also joined forces with singer Chris Brown to launch their "Dum
English" toy; a 10" turquoise and pink Astronaut Star
Skull.
In
2013, Ron also collaborated with rock band Pearl Jam to produce
"Falla Sheep", a blind box line-up featuring 7 color
variants of 3.5" sheep in wolves' clothing toys, which were
distributed through stores and also sold at shows during Pearl Jam's
2013 tour.
In 2012 English announced a vinyl series entitled "The Cereal Killers Series" featuring his recreations of sugary cereal mascots in vinyl. The series includes Fat Tony, Cap'n Cornstarch, Count Calorie, Yucky Children Charmer, and Killfrog Sugar Smacks, with more to come. Ultimately the artist plans to release 13 figures to comprise a 3D interpretation of his image "Last Fat Breakfast."
