One of the most prolific and recognizable artists alive today, Ron English just opened his latest exhibition at the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion (California) entitled Status Factory with a surreal assemblage of over 100 artworks by the artist. This highly interactive exhibition traces the arc of English’s most ambitious themes across mediums.
English has bombed the global landscape with unforgettable images, on the street, in museums, in movies, books, television, and album covers. English coined the term POPaganda to describe his signature mash-up of high and low cultural touchstones, from superhero mythology to totems of art history, populated with his vast and constantly growing arsenal of original characters.
Ron English’s art, whether in paintings, billboards, murals, or sculpture, blends stunning visuals with the bitingly humorous undertones of America’s Premier Pop Iconoclast.
Born in Dallas, Texas in 1966, Ron English paints, infiltrates, reinvents and satirizes modern culture and its mainstream visual iconography on canvas, in song, and directly onto hundreds of pirated billboards.
English exists spiritually somewhere between a cartoon Abbie Hoffman and a grown-up, real-life Bart Simpson, delivering a steady stream of customized imagery laden with strong sociopolitical undertones, adolescent boy humor, subversive media savvy, and Dali-meets-Disney technique.
Dedicated to finding the sublime in the everyday and breaking the momentum of the didactic approach to art and life, English offers up an alternative universe where nothing is sacred, everything is subverted, and there is always room for a little good-natured fun.
Essay contributions to the exhibition and publication by: Dominique Nahas and Mike McGee
Ron English: Status Factory
Orange Coast College
Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion
2701 Fairview Rd.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
November 10th 2010 – December 17th 2010
More info at www.occartspavilion.blogspot.com – Pictures via Brandon Shigeta
