Ron English

New York / USA

Ron English is known as one of the most prolific and well-known urban artists, often referred to as ‘The Godfather of Street Art’. Born in Decatur, Illinois, he became famous for innovations like ‘Culture Jamming’, modifying advertising billboards, and coining the term ‘POPaganda’, he created mash-ups of high and low cultural touchstones. Throughout his career he has worked within the field of street art, fine art and art toy design. His work can be found on his collaboration with URBAN NATION on Project M/2 in 2014. […]

Biography / Ron English

Ron English is known as one of the most prolific and well-known urban artists, often referred to as ‘The Godfather of Street Art’. Born in Decatur, Illinois, he became famous for innovations like ‘Culture Jamming’, modifying advertising billboards, and coining the term ‘POPaganda’, he created mash-ups of high and low cultural touchstones. Throughout his career he has worked within the field of street art, fine art and art toy design. His work can be found on his collaboration with URBAN NATION on Project M/2 in 2014.

After receiving his bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of North Texas and an MFA from the University of Texas, he moved to New York to work as an apprentice for several artists, beginning to sell his own work. He then began to work well-known characters from pop culture into his own paintings and re-interpreted other famous paintings such as Picasso’s ‘Guernica’, which was exhibited at the Houston Station Museum in Texas. His detailed, prolific oil painting skills earned him a formidable reputation and his constant on take on political situations, often taking a stance against big corporations, capitalism and the commercialization of street art, made him one of the most important spokespeople of urban art.

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