Monday, April 26, 2010

Ron English

Ron English is an artist and a culture jammer. He has contributed to illegal culture jamming art. He is known for his mocking of popular culture in the mainstream media. He utilizes painting to make true yet racy statements about iconic figures and events in popular culture. Ron English uses a concept called "Agit-Pop." He is known for utilizing the quote "I DAMN SURE DIDN"T MAKE THE RULES, I DAMN SURE WON'T LIVE BY THEM. "

"Agit-Pop"

"To understand Ron English is to understand his times, for English's work is loaded with the visual iconography of his generation. He is interested in exploring the range and power of a deeply American symbology using Pop imagery as metaphor.

In juxtaposing loaded images, he forces the viewer to synthesize shared cultural reaction to a certain image with personal and unpredictable interpretations triggered by memory association.

The images are carefully selected and combined to create, by their relationship to each other, a complete visual idea that balances the obvious with the ambiguous, subtle with banal, instant recognition with compelling mystery. This integration of art and popular culture underscores all aspects of his work."


Almost everything he does is subverted. Here is some of the work he has done:




I personally feel that these images are horrifying. Therefore I can only imagine what someone who focuses primarily on mainstream ways to view society would feel. This culture jamming is shocking and it provokes though. When I view the Mcdonald's one I see America feeding into this corporation and becoming overweight due to consumption, and Ronald oversized because he is filled with money. I view the cows in the artwork as looking vulumptous because we constantly crave Mcdonalds. Therefore the cows you would think would be healthy and happy. These images that are representations of our current society are breathtaking and it definitely makes me understand how American's are (including myself).


He proves culture jamming is a range of messages and there are many ways of expressing your divergent voice through culture jamming.

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