Ron English

Ron English (born in 1959 in Illinois) is an American artist associated with street art and culture jamming. He earned a BFA at the University of North Texas, then an MFA at the University of Texas, before moving to New York.

In the early 1980s, Ron English began covering billboards with hand-painted parodies. He has subverted hundreds of them, targeting above all tobacco, fast food and big brands. He coined the word "POPaganda" to describe this mix of high and mass culture. His paintings, subverted posters and sculptures take up icons of popular culture, advertising and art history to question consumer society and the mass media. Mickey Mouse, McDonald's and American superheroes appear often.

His character MC Supersized, a Ronald McDonald turned obese, features in Morgan Spurlock's documentary "Super Size Me" in 2004. Ron English also appears in "Exit Through the Gift Shop" in 2010. He repainted Picasso's "Guernica", shown at the Station Museum in Houston, and worked with URBAN NATION on Project M/2 in 2014. He also created Delusionville, an imaginary world populated by his own characters, including Elefanka, an elephant with butterfly-wing ears. The film "Living in Delusionville" is devoted to him.