This Is Not A Reading series is produced and presented by Pages Books & Magazines & NOW Magazine

Wednesday June 15th, 9pm doors

@ The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St West

PWYC (suggested $5.00)

This Is Not A Reading Series invites you to join maverick artist, activist and billboard liberator Ron English as he unleashes his art on Toronto at a special launch party celebrating the theatrical release of Pedro Carvajal’s documentary feature film Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English. Both Ron English and Pedro Carvajal will be in attendance. The show will feature an original body-paint art piece done live by Ron English as well as a music by Kids on TV. In addition, Ron English will be signing copies of his art book Popaganda: The Art and Subversion of Ron English.

Pedro Carvajal’s The Art and Crimes of Ron English opens on June 17th at Toronto’s Bloor Cinema and Hamilton’s Movie Palace, and on June 21st at Kitchener-Waterloo’s Princess Cinemas.

ABOUT THE FILM AND THE ARTISTS

In a growing culture of junk media, American activist/artist Ron English dares to hijack corporate advertising, challenging us to change the sham reality they’ve created and reminding us that free speech still lives. Bringing his messages to the masses through billboards and other forms of outdoor marketing, English takes traditional advertising hostage, subverting familiar images and words into confrontational art. Whether attacking a popular fast food chain with a manipulated image of its popular icon emblazoned with the words “Phat Food,” or taking on a tobacco giant by covering their logo with the word “breathe,” English implores us to re-evaluate what we see, and to succumb to it no more. Check out Ron English’s web site: popaganda.

Infused with English’s infectious passion, director Pedro Carvajal’s Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English is an engaging thrill ride into the life and art of the “billboard bandit” that will inspire and activate. Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English is a film about culture-jamming and billboard-liberation. Ron English, the modern day Robin Hood of Madison Avenue, paints, perverts, infiltrates, reinvents and satirizes modern culture on canvas, in songs, and on hundreds of pirated billboards. Shot entirely guerilla-style, the film chronicles the evolution of an artist who offers an alternative universe where nothing is sacred, everything is subverted and there’s always room for a little good-natured fun. Pedro Carvajal’s film features the art of Ron English as well as art by Shepard Fairey, ArtFux and Cicada. Music by: The Dandy Warhols, Daniel Johnston, Tripping Daisy, and many more.

Pedro Carvajal has made documentaries on East Village squatters, the Yanomami, and an AIDS patient (winning the Chicago International Film Festival’s Silver Plaque award). His videos Citizen Arts and Subvertising focus on culture jamming in public spaces, particularly billboard liberation. Citizen Art focuses on the antics of the billboard liberation collectives, Artfux and Cicada. Subvertising has additional grass roots footage, as well as commentary by sociologists and media critics. Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English was an official selection at the 25th IFP Market Spotlight on Documentaries.

Kids On TV emerged from the drainage pipe of a Toronto bathhouse in the spring of 2003. The group consists of John Caffery, Minus Smile, Wolf, and Roxanne Luchak. Their output includes, but is by no means limited to, musical recordings, musical performances, film, dance videos, rock opera collaborations, graffiti, crafting, and live “sleep-ins” in ritzy Toronto bars. Kids On TV want to transform space and your mind. Tune in. Get addicted. Get nasty. Kids On TV bring it live and bring it real with big dirty beats, shameless samples and breakdance meat. Check out their website: kids.