Ron English
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ron English (born June 6, 1959) is an American
contemporary artist Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...
who explores brand imagery, street art, and
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
.


Career

English has produced images on the street, in museums, in movies, books and television. He coined the term POPaganda to describe a mash-up of high and low cultural touchstones, from superhero mythology to totems of art history, populated with his original characters, including MC Supersized, the obese fast-food mascot featured in the movie ''
Super Size Me ''Super Size Me'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003, during which he ate only McDonald's f ...
'', and Abraham Obama, the fusion of America's 16th and 44th Presidents. Other characters in English's paintings, billboards, and sculpture include three-eyed rabbits, cowgirls and grinning skulls – visual, with humorous undertones. English was interviewed for the documentary ''Super Size Me'' (2004), which showed his
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...
-themed artwork—inspired by his belief about the effect of fast food franchises and
restaurant chains A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...
on
American culture The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...
– "MC Supersized". "Abraham Obama", made during the 2008 US Presidential Election, was a "portrait-fusion" of America's 16th and 44th Presidents. English has painted album covers for
the Dandy Warhols The Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band, formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström. They were later joined by keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford. H ...
' ''
Welcome to the Monkey House ''Welcome to the Monkey House'' is a collection of 25 short stories written by Kurt Vonnegut, published by Delacorte in August 1968. The stories range from wartime epics to futuristic thrillers, given with satire and Vonnegut's unique edge. The s ...
'', the 2010 album '' Slash'', and the Chris Brown album cover for '' F.A.M.E''. Some of his paintings were used in the
Morgan Spurlock Morgan Valentine Spurlock (born November 7, 1970) is an American documentary filmmaker, humorist, television producer, screenwriter and playwright. Spurlock's films include '' Super Size Me'' (2004), '' Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?'' ( ...
documentaries ''Super Size Me'' and '' The Greatest Movie Ever Sold''. English has collaborated with
Daniel Johnston Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 11, 2019) was an American singer, musician and artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded a ...
and Jack Medicine in the ''Hyperjinx Tricycle'' project. In 2010 he created the artwork for Art Nouveau Magazine's first print issue. English is the subject of a Pedro Carvajal documentary titled ''Popaganda'' (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 Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989 he designed the "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campai ...
,
Kenny Scharf Kenny Scharf (born November 23, 1958) is an American painter known for his participation in New York City's interdisciplinary East Village art scene during the 1980s, alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Scharf's do-it-yourself pract ...
and Robbie Conal guest-starred on the March 4, 2012, episode of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'', " Exit Through the Kwik-E-Mart". In 2015 he was a guest judge on the
Oxygen Network Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, through its Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary. The channel primar ...
's reality show ''Streetart Throwdown'' created by
Justin BUA Justin Bua is an artist, author, speaker and entrepreneur. He currently lives in Texas and is best known for his lyrical narrative paintings of musicians, DJs and similar characters who help define the urban landscape. As an artist "for the peopl ...
.Musat, Stephanie (March 3, 2012)
"Artist Ron English, who resides in Jersey City, will appear on the next episode of The Simpsons as himself "
NJ.com NJ.com is a digital news content provider and website in New Jersey owned by Advance Publications. According to a report in ''The New York Times'' in 2012, it was the largest provider of digital news in the state at the time. In 2018, comScore r ...
.
In November 2021 English's giant immersive instillation ''Sugar Circus'' opened in
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
,
PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
marking the beginning of the exhibitions world tour.


Street art

English has an early background as an art reproducer. English has initiated and participated in illegal public art campaigns since the early 1980s and for this is often referred to as the 'Godfather of Street Art'. Ron English street art activities are the subject matter and covered extensively in the Pedro Carvajal documentary titled ''Popaganda''.
Culture jamming Culture jamming (sometimes also guerrilla communication) is a form of protest used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert media culture and its mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. It att ...
is one aspect of English's work. Although never an official member, Ron several times joined with the Billboard Liberation Front, which practices culture jamming by altering billboards by changing key words to radically alter the message, often to an anti-corporate message. Frequent targets of English's work include Joe Camel, McDonald's, and Mickey Mouse. English intends his
culture jamming Culture jamming (sometimes also guerrilla communication) is a form of protest used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert media culture and its mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. It att ...
technique to inspire people to question consumer capitalism. English 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. Later English focused on another form of advertising: product packaging. He recreates several different kinds of packaging (cereal boxes, milk cartons, cigarette packs, etc.), to reveal truth in advertising. After designing the packaging English and his Team POPaganda infiltrate different retailers around the country and "shop gift". Some of English's product packaging designs include, "Cap'n Corn Starch", "Duncan High Hash Brownies" and "Camel Kool's" THC Enriched Tobacco Cigarettes. English has created murals a locations throughout the world.


Fine art

English is a fine art painter specializing in oils. He received his bachelor of Fine Arts from the
University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...
in
Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...
. He moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and apprenticed with several artists, beginning to sell his own work. His style is characterized by extreme photo realism, use of secondary color and appropriation of pop imagery. Frequent themes are revisiting and reworking childhood with adult skill as well as examining the darker meanings behind garish pop surface imagery. English also uses historical imagery as a template to explore universal issues. He has frequently reworked images of ''
The Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...
'', ''
Starry Night ''The Starry Night'' ( nl, De sterrennacht) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. Painted in June 1889, it depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provenc ...
'', and Picasso's '' Guernica''. English has appropriated many well known images and characters from pop culture, reworking them into his own images. These include a reworking of
Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the principal character of the comic strip '' Peanuts'', syndicated in daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser," Charlie Brown is one of the great American a ...
into his "Grin" character and one of his famous "MC Supersized" based on the idea that
Ronald McDonald Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. He inhabits the fictional world of McDonaldland, with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and ...
ate his own product. Another image of the idealized American female is that of
Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
with Mickey Mouse breasts. In 1980, 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. His largest collection of "Guernica" paintings was on view at Allouche gallery in New York City from September to October 2016. "Lazarus Rising" was English's first exhibit in the UK, at Elms Lesters Painting Rooms in London. His exhibition "Season in Supurbia" took place in 2009 at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City. In 2011 he exhibited "Skin Deep: Post-Instinctual Afterthoughts on Psychological Nature", a new body of works exploring the inner lives of iconic figures, at Lazarides in London that represents the artist.


Designer toys

In 2005 English began creating designer toy versions of his creatures. Ronnnie Rabbit was English's first designer toy, produced in 2005 by Dark Horse. In 2013, he joined Slash to create a limited edition fiberglass bust of the image used for the ''Slash and Friends'' album artwork. He also joined singer Chris Brown to launch their "Dum English" toy; a 10-inch turquoise and pink Astronaut Star Skull. In 2013, English collaborated with rock band Pearl Jam to produce "Falla Sheep", a blind box line-up with seven color variants of 3.5 inch sheep in wolves' clothing toys. These were sold in stores and also at shows during Pearl Jam's 2013 tour.


Books

*''Original Grin: The Art of Ron English'' (2019) *''POPaganda: The Art & Subversion of Ron English'' (2004) *''Ron English's Fauxlosophy'' (2016) *''Ron English's Popaganda Coloring Book'' (2017) *''Ron English's Vandalism Starter Kit'' (2014) *''Lazarus Rising'' (2009) *''Art for Obama'' (2009) *''Abject Expressionism'' (2007) *''Son of Pop: Ron English Paints His Progeny'' (2007) *''Abraham Obama'' (2010) *''Art is a Horrible Waste of the Imagination'' (1988) *''Status Factory'' (2014) *''Death and the Eternal Forever'' (2014)


References


External links


PopagandaSongs In English
– a collaborative music project between artist Ron English and The Electric Illuminati * {{DEFAULTSORT:English, Ron 20th-century American painters American male painters Living people 1959 births Anti-consumerists Artists from Jersey City, New Jersey Photorealist artists 21st-century American painters 21st-century male artists Painters from New Jersey Painters from Illinois People from Decatur, Illinois