Ron English’s Abraham Obama

American artist Ron English dedicates his time to making illegal billboard ads. With satirical and subversive imagery and sloganeering, English makes people stop and think about how products, personas and ideas are sold to the public. In this very funny presentation at the Semi-Permanent conference, he gives a history of how his art came to be part of the urban cultural landscape.

A trailer for the upcoming documentary film on designer vinyl toys entitled “The Vinyl Frontier”. This film features many of today’s top toy artists as well as collectors and toy producers alike.
A Film by Daniel Zana
music: Booka Shade
www.thevinylfrontiermovie.com

AbsolutYouWall

Designer game and novelty company Tools of the Trade was releasing their second toy, the Ron English “Mandala Grin” Jigsaw Puzzle. Medicine Agency directed and edited this short commercial and syndicated it to a large network of blogs and publications.

From Medicine Agency on Vimeo.

by Caroline Stanley

Free speech and social equality champion Ron English’s Abraham Obama is arguably one of the most recognizable images of the 2008 presidential campaign — second only to his friend Shepard Fairey’s iconic HOPE posters. But did Fairey take his work on a ten-city tour while shooting a documentary about the experience? Nope. English did, though, and the resulting film is like a weird mix of Jackass and a who’s-who of street art’s elite. After the jump, English speaks with Flavorpill about why Boston hates street art, how little money artists really make, and what he’s planning to do with a bunch of paint and 20 cows.

Flavorpill: When did you guys decide to turn the road trip into a documentary? Was that always the plan?

Ron English: No, no. Kevin Chapados — who directed  — sent somebody with us to film Boston. I don’t really know what he was thinking about at that point. And then after that, he wanted to make the movie. Once he realized we were going to ten cities.

Flavorpill: Does it change the vibe of things when there’s a camera around?

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20 Minutes With Ron English from Art and Design Films on Vimeo.

T.D. MOBLEY-MARTINEZ

If you don’t know the name Ron English, you probably have heard about the stir he created when he came to Colorado Springs in 2008. As he did in a handful of other cities, he brought controversy in the form of billboard-size images called “Abraham Obama,” a trademark English mash-up of President Abraham Lincoln and then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.The New York artist called it art. But others said it was a political endorsement and questioned the city about its sign ordinance. City officials agreed with English.

English returns to Colorado Springs with a new exhibition, “The Secrets of the Electric Illuminati: The Lyrics, Art & Toys of Ron English,” which runs at the Smokebrush Gallery and Foundation through April 30.

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