Ron English is an all-American artist. Not in the flag waving, Mcdonalds craving, Superbowl Sunday kind of way, more like the revolutionary who won’t sit on the sidelines while the King and Queen take all his money and make a fool of him. He’s been using his talents on and off the streets for over 25 years now and tonight, May 8th, he brings it back to the Queen herself (well to her city at least). To coincide with the opening of his first London solo show, ‘Lazarus Rising’ at the Elms Lester Painting Rooms, Ripo got a chance to ask this iconic artist a few questions.
Ripo Which came first: your pop surrealist paintings or the concepts for the billboards? How have they continued to push one another and evolve together?
Ron English: My high school paintings were pretty pop surrealist in nature, subjects included other worldly landscapes, alien species etc. After high school I moved to Texas where I started doing random street art. Well, it wasn’t really street art like today. I would just do odd things in public like paint an old man’s face on the road using a trompe l’oeil technique so it would appear to float in front of your car when your headlights struck it or paint cut out figures of a Bigfoot family and place them in the woods where passers by would catch a glimpse of them, or other things like painting fake street signs. My favorite was an empty yellow sign with a big wood cut out of the Ped Xing figure on the other side of the road. The first couple things I did that seemed like graffiti was painting shadows on walls and fossil formations in cliff sides, oh and of course I painted a lot of billboards, which I still do. Some ideas are best expressed on a billboard, others are best expressed on canvas. I’m lucky to have multiple outlets for my ideas.
R: When you began working in the streets there was no such thing as a “street art” scene, lowbrow art (as an art movement) was still relatively unknown, and graffiti was just beginning to capture people’s imaginations across the world. How have reactions to your work changed as these various scenes have gained more of a reputation and respect? How do you see yourself as part of (or not part of) any of these scenes?
RE: Well, there were earth works. A lot of artists in the seventies were looking for ways to get art out of the gallery context and away from more traditional approaches to art making. It really felt like there was a lot of unexplored territory for a young artist and I was willing to try all sorts of things. As for the lowbrow stuff, we grew up with Rat Fink on our lunch boxes. As kids, we loved the lowbrow. I don’t think the goal of the original lowbrow artists was to gain respect in the high brow art world, I think they were more in pursuit of fun and freedom. I’m sure when Paul McCarthy started the Beatles he wasn’t looking to get knighted, I’m sure he was delighted when he was, but it wasn’t the motivation. I consider myself a part of all these movements and I am thrilled to see committed, talented artists get the respect they deserve.
R: How have you seen opportunities available for artists working in these areas change and grow, specifically within galleries, commercial opportunities, and with alternative projects such as outdoor projects and exhibitions?
RE: Graffiti artist is actually a legitimate career choice now. Who would have ever guessed? These art movements, street art, lowbrow, pop surrealism, they have expanded the interest in art to levels the world has never before seen and at the same time expanded opportunities for artists to interface with the public.
R: Much of your billboard work is described as a sort of political action against the prevalence of advertising in our shared visual language. At the same time you’ve done billboards for large companies, such as Ray Ban. From the outside this may be perceived as a contradiction. How would you answer to that suggestion?
RE: The idea behind my first billboards was to give art away free to the public. With Ray Ban they gave me four stories of space to display art with about two feet of space along the bottom for their logo I think that accomplished my original mission quite well. I like Ray Ban. They could’t pay me enough money to do something for products like say, the Hummer.
R: How long have you been working with the Elms Lester Painting Rooms?
RE: I have been in group shows for a couple years and then a two person show with Adam Neate last year. This will be my first solo show in London.
R: What sort of connection do you feel with some of the other artists represented by the gallery, such as Anthony Lister, Adam Neate, Phil Frost, Futura, etc.?
RE: I love and respect all the Elms artists, they are my authentic contemporaries, which is exactly where you want to be with a gallery.
R: A lot of your subjects (or better yet, targets) are very American-based brands, icons, and political figures. How is your work (especially the billboards) received outside of the US? Has it proven to be easier or more difficult to do illegal work in other places you’ve visited?
RE: It’s easy to do illegal things anywhere if you don’t get caught.
R: Anything outside of the gallery walls that the people of London should look forward to from you over these next few weeks? Is there any place you really like to visit when you’re in London?
RE: I did some billboards and other things last time I was in London but this time I don’t want to do anything. I don’t want to distract from the show, it’s been too long coming.
R: Famous last words?
RE: What could possibly go wrong?
All images © Ron English, courtesy of Elms Lester Painting Rooms
“Lazarus Rising” is open through to June 6th. A book is also available online at the gallery website here via (Modart)interview by Ripo
