Ron English
john Lennon and Groucho Marx
1992

Name: john Lennon and Groucho Marx
Brand: Ron English
Price: 9500 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

out a group of Ron English artworks we purchased is another version of this great play on names. A great iconic image of two legends John Lennon and Groucho Marx. The symbolism is classic Ron English, these greats represent the opposites of their namesakes Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. these are silkscreens which were done are artist's paper I believe arches or rives, and then painted over. It is signed lower left Ron English but has been over painted. It dates from 1992 when Ron english was a notorious billboard graffiti artist. Ron English has grown into one of the great artists of this generation, just search hid name and you will be delightfully surprised. A brief bio follows: Ron English, born in Dallas, Texas in 1966 is an American contemporary artist who explores brand imagery and advertising. He is known for his use of color and comic book collage, for his photorealist technique and for his unique cast of characters, including sexualized animals, skeletal figures, Marilyn Monroe with Mickey Mouse breasts, the corpulent fast food spokesman MC Supersized, and one of his most significant creations, Abraham Obama, a fusion of America's 16th and 44th Presidents. Bombarded by relentless advertising in a growing culture of junk, one man-activist/artist Ron English-dares to hijack corporate advertising, challenging us to change the sham of reality they've created and reminding us that free speech still lives. Bringing his messages to the masses through billboards and other forms of outdoor marketing, Ron takes traditional advertising hostage, subverting familiar images and words into confrontational art. Whether attacking a popular fast food chain with a manipulated image of its popular icon emblazoned with the words "Phat Food," or taking on a tobacco giant and simply covering their logo with the word "breathe," Ron implores us to re-evaluate what we see and succumb to it no more. In addition to his fine art painting, English has been involved in street art. This has included creating illegal murals and billboards that blend stunning visuals with biting political, consumerist and surrealist statements.

Creator:

Ron English (1966, American)

Creation Year:

1992

Dimensions:

Height: 35.5 in (90.17 cm)Width: 43 in (109.22 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)

Movement & Style:

Pop Art

Period:

1990-1999

Condition:

some nicks and a chip to the frame from handling.

Gallery Location:

Palm Springs, CA

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU16221141473

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Ron English

Ron English (b. 1959) is a pioneering American contemporary artist who explores the intersection of street art, brand imagery, superhero comics, art history, advertising, and politics. His cheeky interpretation of Pop Art comes alive in vibrant drawings, paintings, and murals. English’s imagery is found on the street, in museums, in movies, books, and television. His irreverent, imagined characters include MC Supersized, the obese fast-food mascot featured in Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary Super Size Me, and Abraham Obama, a mischievous hybrid of the 16th and 44th U.S. presidents. Sociocultural commentary underscores his work, exemplified by his iteration of Ronald McDonald as a western culture “Buddha” gorging McDonald’s to expose the insatiable slothfulness of consumerism. English transformed his early experience as an art reproducer to become a founding co-creator of illegal public art campaigns in the early 1980s. His controversial street art activities are the subject matter and explored extensively in POPaganda - The Art & Crimes of Ron English, a documentary directed by Pedro Carvajal. An acclaimed outlaw artist, English never became an official member, but he has participated with the Billboard Liberation Front, which practices culture jamming by altering billboards to change keywords and radically alter the message, often to make an anti-corporate statement. He frequently targets corporations and their mascots, including Joe Camel and Mickey Mouse. English seeks to inspire people to question consumer capitalism through his exaggerated, grotesque characters. English is a masterful oil painter working in a photorealist style. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Texas in Denton, and an MFA from The University of Texas, English moved to New York City, where he apprenticed with several artists and started selling his own work. English reworks art historical imagery, such as depictions of Picasso’s Guernica, as a template to explore universal issues. English’s work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Paris, the Whitney Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Paterson Museum in Paterson, New Jersey. He has exhibited at the Station Museum in Houston and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Washington DC. In November of 2021, English’s enormous immersive installation Sugar Circus opened an exhibition at The Nest in Q Plex in Nanshan District in Shenzhen, China. His work has been featured in solo and group shows around the world.