Popaganda, the art & subversion of Ron English

I recently saw the excellent documentary, Popaganda, the art & subversion of Ron English. Artist English has been subverting billboards and mocking business and cultural idiocy for quite a while now, creating, in the process, a substantial body of culture jamming work. The film is a fascinating view of his life covering his fantastic painting, amusing climbing exploits as he and his crew scale heights and clamber over fences to paste up the works over commercial bilboards and even includes his appearance on a US pop psychology TV show where he owns up to being a compulsive/obsessive about his activities.

English's art uses cultural icons (Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Mouse, the members of Kiss!) and parodies of advertising to question the actions of business and politicians and illegaly displays them by glueing them over the billboard crap these idiots plaster everywhere. He's a hero and we definitely need more like him.



"POPaganda: The Art & Subversion of Ron English is a film about the culture-jamming and billboard-liberation antics of Ron English. The modern day Robin Hood of Madison Avenue, Ron paints, perverts, infiltrates, reinvents and satirizes modern culture on canvas, in songs, and directly 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.
The original 30 minute version has recently been expended to a full-feature documentary running time 82:00 minutes. This film is in competition for the Golden Gate Award!"

whomix - doctor who theme remixes

Another day, another reason to give thanks for the t'interweb! I've just come across the fabulous Dr Who theme remix site, whomix. I think it pretty much speaks for itself but it's a must visit to hear grin-inducing reworkings of the classic BBC series theme such as the Nyman remix, Jesus built my TARDIS and Breakbeats in Time and Space. Oh my aching sides!

Sound sculpture has city humming (and gurgling)

On yesterday's White Noise update I uploaded some info on US Artist Bill Fontana's forthcoming sound installation in Leeds. Today The Guardian has published this handy feature on it.

Confession of Depression

"I am turning into my mother but am too tired to care", "The world does not care about me, I am completely on my own", "I don't know you and I can't love you". So run just some of the angst ridden statements adorning products created by German designers Aylin Langreuter and Lea Schmidbauer in their Confession of Depression range. Their previous project, Access to Success, splashed blandly optimistic statements straight out of self help books all over commercial products such as ash trays, lighters and personal organisers. Now they've gone to the dark side. If you've a taste for subverting commercial branding then this is the gear for you. It's pure, distilled Fight Club.

Eduardo Paolozzi dies

One of my favourite artists, Eduardo Paolozzi, has died at the age of 81. He was fantastically imaginative and multi talented artist, bringing his cheeky Pop Art/Surrealist sensibility to everything from paintings and collages to sculpture and architecture. Unusually in a modern artist he managed to bring a singular style to the mass market and his work can be readily found in cites up and down the country. A retrospective is currently running at the Flowers East Gallery in London and Edinburgh's Dean Gallery maintains a permanent Paolozzi collection as well as a life size recreation of his studio. The Independant has this obituray.

How we are to one another

"How we are to one another" is how designer/artist Barbara Kruger summarised what she does before an audience at Glasgow's Tramway this morning. Famous for her distinctive use of type and pictures Kruger questions the assumptions and stereotypes of the modern world. Her style, born out of her early career in magazine design, uses the visual vocabulary of advertising with slogans and questions to subvert and comment. The presentation marks the start of several Kruger installations appearing in Glasgow over the coming year. From Thursday 21st, the Gallery of Modern Art will show work specifically related to issues of domestic violence as part of the Rule of Thumb project and the video installation, Twelve, will show at Tramway from August 5th.

The Who Boys

Yesterday I came across this set of stupendous mash ups from The Who Boys titled Tales of Townshend and Wilson. Taking The Who and The Beach Boys as their starting point, The Who Boys create a bizarre alternate universe where Pete Townshend's savage riffs and Keith Moon's boiling drums punctuate the desert island reverie of Brian Wilson's psychedelic dreams. Samples are deftly mixed against breakbeats, dub and hyperspeed drill'n'bass with a smattering of the boy's own rap on top.
At its best it's breathtakingly exciting though The Who probably fare better out of the process: I Can See For Miles is bisected by the riff from Won't Get Fooled Again and psychedelicised sitars: sections of Live at Leeds are folded back on themselves, in John Oswald Plunderphonic style, against waves of Townshend's feedback and guitar destruction: I Can See For Miles resurfaces welded to Wouldn't It Be Nice: Surfin USA is jammed into the gaps in Substitute at breakneck pace with distorted Daltry vocals: The Seeker loops slowly under choirs of Beach Boys harmonies.

Like the best mash ups, Tales of Townshend and Wilson makes you look at the originals in new ways.The Who Boys have remoulded something very familiar into new and alien shapes. In the words of one repeating Townshend sample, "I dig it".

MP3 Tourguide for Glasgow

Scottish brewers Tennent's have just launched a downloadable MP3 guide to Glasgow aimed at promoting the city via its vibrant music scene. The file (an 80mb download!) is compatible with any Mp3 player and is obviously most suitable for use in iPods, PDA's and mobile phones. The tour walks the visitor through Glasgow taking in 13 sites including Galleries, venues, clubs and record shops.