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26 April 2009 | |
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Ron English / Lazarus Rising New York artist and the American father of Agit Pop movement returns to hijack familiar images revealing a darker side at the Elms Lesters Painting Rooms in London entitled Lazarus Rising that opens 05.08 and runs through 06.06.09. What makes a Ron English piece of art instantly recognisable beyond its signature photorealist technique and brazen colour scheme is the utterly unique way in which the artwork presents a new idea embedded in the familiar, creating progressive mutations whilst referring to historical events. When English was an art student he started to hijack billboards as a way of displaying his art to as many people as possible – it was later that he realised he could make political statements by the same means. He replaced existing advertisements with his own hand-painted "subvertisements" spreading his own socio-political message. The new exhibition Lazarus Rising continues this theme, now dwelling on the unprecedented changes in the global economy, using prototypes of iconic cartoon characters and US comic books, so close to American culture and yet suddenly revealing in new ways. By focusing on the under-the-surface meanings and obscure connotations of American icons, English resurrects their original purpose by revealing the facade. By distorting commonly recognisable characters, English is able to change the narrative, and in effect, cancel out the oligarchic cooption. There is a certain illusive nature to American culture that, in the artist's opinion, could definitely use a counterbalance. Read more about English on Wikipedia and make sure to check out his site, which is chock full of info and images of his work. Don't forget to check out Elms Lesters Painting Rooms site. While I'm not the biggest fan of street/graffiti type artists, they definitely have a roster of some of the best in the game, including my favorite WK Interact, Jose Parla, Futura, and Dalek / James Marshall. Check out this page for more info on all the artists they rep, bios on the artists, and images of their work. Lazarus Rising |
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