Biography
Ron English is an American artist born in 1959 in Decatur, Illinois. After earning a BFA from the University of North Texas and an MFA from the University of Texas, he moved to New York City. In the early 1980s, he began hijacking corporate billboards, replacing advertisements with hand-painted parodies — a practice that made him a central figure in the culture-jamming movement alongside the Billboard Liberation Front. Over the course of his career, he has pirated more than a thousand billboards.
He coined the term "POPaganda" to describe his fusion of pop art and visual propaganda. Among his best-known creations are MC Supersized, an obese reimagining of Ronald McDonald featured in Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary "Super Size Me," and Abraham Obama, a conflation of the 16th and 44th presidents that went viral during the 2008 campaign. His work also appears in Banksy's "Exit Through the Gift Shop" and Pedro Carvajal's documentary "POPaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English."
The artist has painted murals on the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie and on the West Bank separation barrier. Based in New York, he continues to work across mural painting, drawing, sculpture and toy design, subverting the imagery of advertising, comics and art history to challenge consumer culture.
He coined the term "POPaganda" to describe his fusion of pop art and visual propaganda. Among his best-known creations are MC Supersized, an obese reimagining of Ronald McDonald featured in Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary "Super Size Me," and Abraham Obama, a conflation of the 16th and 44th presidents that went viral during the 2008 campaign. His work also appears in Banksy's "Exit Through the Gift Shop" and Pedro Carvajal's documentary "POPaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English."
The artist has painted murals on the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie and on the West Bank separation barrier. Based in New York, he continues to work across mural painting, drawing, sculpture and toy design, subverting the imagery of advertising, comics and art history to challenge consumer culture.
The site contains a total of 2 artworks by Ron English in 2 countries.
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Artworks by Ron English have been viewed 135 times.
