Art > RON ENGLISH : o.p. original prankster

posted by chris on February 01, 2007 at 07:39 PM

RON ENGLISH : o.p. original prankster

You know you hit a nerve with your work when you have to escape from an angry mob in Jersey City, receive serious death threats, get sued by everybody and their cousins or being chased while half-drunk by the police in Texas. ‘I don’t mind going to jail in Jersey’, Ron English tells on the phone, ‘... the jail’s close to my house’. Well, it sure helps to think practically if you’re planning to break the law. English is a well-known and heavily sought-after painter of pop art. You can see his work on record covers, in Absolut’s charity campaigns, in prominent museums and galleries or in Luciano Pavarotti’s home. But he’s probably known best for his two-decade war on public advertising, which he started in the early 80’s. Since 1982 he has pirated over a thousand billboards, replacing existing campaigns with his own art that very often uses the tactics of advertising to attack the products themselves in order to encourage free thought. Needless to say that undermining the semiotics of consumption is very dangerous to the powers that be. With his actions, he opened doors and planted ideas for a new generation to come and it’s pretty safe to say that he heavily influenced artists like Banksy, Kaws or Shepard Fairey (with whom he collaborated in LA). It’s about the joy of assaulting copyright. It’s about jamming cultures. It’s about liberating billboards. It’s the art of subvertising. Or as Mr. English put it: ‘One should be aware that corporate speech and free speech are two completely different things’. ‘Popaganda - the art and crimes of Ron English’ is out now on DVD.

Even though you're a very respected (and successful) painter, you're probably known best for illegaly taking over billboards with your art. How did this actually start back then... can you remember the first time you posted one of your signs?
It’s odd being 'well known' for a criminal behavior. Originally it seemed like a great place to display my art... I could turn a rush hour traffic jam into an art opening. The first one I did was a sort of visual poem for my girlfriend. It was in 1982.

Would you say that your motivation for squatting billboards changed over the years? Did it become for example more urgent to deliver a social comment during a certain political climate?
Once I started showing in galleries the need to use billboards to display my artwork lessened while my political awareness grew. Billboards became soapboxes.

You took over more than a thousand billboards... and at times people were probably aware about the mastermind behind these 'pranks'. How come you've got only busted a couple of times?
I don’t know. The executives at a couple of the billboard companies know who I am. I have had some intense conversations with them. I'm pretty sure I don’t get caught in the act because I do them in broad daylight. Anyone seeing me would more than likely assume they are watching someone doing his job, not a crime in action.

Are you happy with the terms 'subvertising' and 'activist artist' that are used quite often when critics refer to your work?
Sure, I would say they are accurate. Of course there are other dimensions to my art, you know, and there are people who only know me as the psychological surrealist painter and are unaware of my extra curricular criminal activities.

Is there any takeover in particular that you're very proud of?
I like the automatronic Ronald piece I did with the BLF in San Francisco. The liberation was very 'Oceans 11'. When we arrived at the location there was a guy from the billboard company on the board. The second he left we moved in and installed the poster and the mechanical Ronald in less than ten minutes, and as we pulled away the cops pulled up. We had about fifty friends dressed up like Ronald McDonald hiding in the park across the street. When we pulled away they flooded the scene. We pulled around the corner and put on our own Ronald suits then returned to the chaos we’d created, cloaked in the anonymity of being just a couple more clowns in the crowd.

How would you explain your obsession with modern days pop culture icons like Marylin Monroe, Andy Warhol, Micky Mouse or Ronald McDonald?
Mickey Mouse is my Jesus Christ, Marilyn my Mary Magdalene, Ronald McDonald my Buddha.

In the past you liked to turn corporate iconographies upside down... take the Joe Camel character as an example. But besides nicotin, alcohol is the biggest legal killer these days... so chosing to become an Absolut Vodka artist seems to be kinda contradiction, doesn't it?
Not at all. They weren’t promoting their product to children, they weren’t using the Teletubbies as spokesmodels for their product.

I can imagine you being sued for copyright infringement quite often, right?
No. You can use a copyrighted character or brand logo to engage in social commentary. No one has ever won a lawsuit against me.

Just recently 'Popaganda-the art and crimes of Ron English' was released on DVD. How did it feel to be the centerpoint of a documentary? Were you happy with the result?
I guess it just feels normal, it’s not something I really think about. Pretty much everyone has a reality show these days, don’t they?

So whatīs next for Mr. English?
I’m going to start a religion. I enjoy mythmaking and hate paying taxes.

www.popaganda.com
POPaganda: the art and crimes of Ron English | a documentary by Pedro Carvajal | out on DVD