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!"