Art is plain ‘English’ By Justin Rocket Silverman
February 3rd, 2010
Michael Plunkett/Patrick McMullan
MC Supersized joins his creator, artist Ron English, at the Opera Gallery in SoHo last night.
Characters emerging from surrealist paintings to confront the artist who created them? Sounds like the plot of a classic Twilight Zone episode. At least it did until a limo pulled up in front of the Opera Gallery in SoHo last night and disgorged four bodypainted “cowgirls” to storm the art opening inside.
The cowgirls, a sexy half human, half bovine creation of pop artist Ron English, came in with (toy) guns drawn and blazing. English created them for paintings like his “Bovine Growth Hormone Babe,” a criticism of the bovine growth hormone (rBGH) used in dairy cows.
Such cultural subversion is part of English’s signature style. For more than two decades he has been painting canvas and billboard alike with jabs at everything from religion to politics to fast food to cigarettes that are as colorful as they are controversial.
“My art allows me to explore dark impulses and be bad without feeling guilty about it the next day,” says English. “Plus it’s more fun than having a real job.”
Also on hand last night was MC Supersized, an obscenely large version of Ronald McDonald. The costume was so heavy that the actor wearing it needed to keep an electric fan in the headpiece to prevent him from overheating.
The Ron English (popaganda.com) show at the Opera Gallery (operagallery.com) opens to the public today and runs for one month.
Although the crowd yesterday was delighted by the unexpected cowgirl invasion, the heifers themselves may have been permanently scarred. After five hours being body painted by the expert hand of Danielle Fonseca at Body Of Art, the girls spent another two scrubbing the cow off their skin.
“I may never drink milk again!” declared cowgirl actress Kiki Valentine. “But to embody this character and become a living part of Ron’s incredible, culture-jamming mix of paintings and sculpture was worth every minute.”
