He’s been referred to as a guerrilla artist and his practice described as “culture jamming”, the practice of modifying billboards or other advertisements to change their corporate message to a radically anti-capitalist one. Since the 1980’s, American artist Ron English has been tackling consumerism, corporate America and politics head on. His targets include fast food, liquor and cigarettes. Strictly speaking, he is defacing public property and this is a second degree felony in the United States. “Right up there with bashing someone over the head with a baseball bat”, he claims.
I first became aware of English with the 2005 documentary “POPaganda – The Art and Crimes of Ron English” produced by Pedro Carvajal. Declaring that ordinary people deserve free speech and corporations do not, English and his crew hijacked billboards across New York City, either repainting them or more often posting their own signs which were a scathing attack on the original. This was done in broad daylight – English argues you are more likely to be considered a legitimate employee than if you did this at night – then high-tailing it out of there before the police arrive. Usually the operation takes about 7 minutes if all goes well. Occasionally he has been arrested.
He coined the term POPaganda to mean a combination of pop art and the public being force fed information which he reinvents into something perverse.
Usually the billboards got de-hijacked within a few days but the operation generated enough public interest to make the operation worthwhile. And besides, English was ensuring as many people as possible were able to see his art whereas most artists’ work rarely leaves their studios.
Born in Illinios in 1959, there was always something of the prankster about English. His mother once made him an Evel Knievel costume, so he borrowed his little sister’s bike and rode over some matchbox cars. He later made several insanely dangerous home movies with some mates before going to college to “save himself”.
A response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.
In the Carvajal doco it is stated that when you live in a world so dominated by an endless stream of commercial images, where kids are growing up with their entire visual landscape being bought, sold and co-opted, you can either acquiesce to it and be passive about it you can confront it.
A reinvention of the famous Marlboro cigarette logo.
English says that one of the joys of this form of art is that he can have an idea today, paint the poster tonight and have it up on a billboard tomorrow. He feels a little like a political cartoonist except that he doesn’t have a disapproving editor to deal with, let alone a major corporation who owns the newspaper.
English’s wife, Tarssa Yazdani, who has often collaborated with him in his projects believes the most destructive aspect of advertising is the direct marketing to children. She sees Ron as at the forefront of a movement to take back the message and the media. And this brings me to his campaign against Camel cigarettes and his horror that the company would create a cartoon character called Joe Camel to market their products to children. English went after Joe Camel with a ferocity that probably led to its demise.
Another target was Apple computers and their ‘think different’ campaign where they appropriated images of some of the worlds greatest minds (including Einstein) from the 20th century. English argues that Apple have no right to assume these people would have approved of their products because they are dead. His response was to feature images of Charles Manson and Apple’s arch enemy – Bill Gates.
One criticism of the Carvajal documentary is that it contains no response from the corporate world. English claims they were invited to respond, but declined. One of English’s collaborators, Shepard Fairey believes English is challenging the whole concept democracy and free speech in the USA and to undermine the symbiotic nature of consumption is very dangerous to the powers that be, whilst the average person does not have a voice.
In 2005, McDonald’s restaurants celebrated its 50th anniversary and became an obvious target for English.
English’s character MC Supersized later featured in the film Super Size Me.
Inevitably, English became a victim of his own success, at least in regards to his billboard art. He became so recognisable it got to the point where he could barely put a foot on a ladder in public without attracting the attention of the police or the billboard owner. In recent years, English has produced designer toys, album covers, collaborated with musicians and others in various projects as well as holding exhibitions featuring his richly coloured and textured oil paintings. This is much to the relief of his wife who expressed concern at the impulsive nature of his poster art, which involved many hours of work but didn’t appear to be doing anything that would enhance his career or meet their financial goals. She wasn’t alone in this belief – a gallery director expressed the same concerns.
In 2018 he held an exhibition in Montreal called “Universal Grin”, and was asked about the title. “The grin treatment is akin to a political or corporate logo. If you want people to feel good about what your organization is doing you don’t need to engage in practices they will approve of, what you really need to do is front with a happy face… This show is on some level about being so totally consumed by the cultural circus you can no longer be objective about it, just fall in love with its sublime perfection.”
Ron English - Universal Grin
It was also inevitable that a guy like English would be asked for his opinions on Donald Trump: “He has the single most important human insight. Command all attention. No one cares if you are lying or not, no one cares if you know what you are talking about, they care if you are loud, proud, self-assured and entertaining. Great hair works too.”
As it did for Margaret Thatcher.
“Abraham Obama”, produced by English for the 2008 presidential elections.
References;
Juxtapoz Magazine
The Guardian
“POPaganda, the Art and Crimes of Ron English” - 2005 documentary