Ron English and Subvertisement
...ificant change, English brought together the socio-political connotations of Mighty Proud and places the work into a modern context. Ron English labeled Color Corrected as a work of Modern revisionism precisely because it re-contextualized another piece of artwork. “This has the greatest effect because whenever people see the originals again, they will immediately associate back to the message that I have tried to convey,” he says in a brief documentary. The purpose of this school of art is to create an interpretation of the original transposed from its time and its intent, and reach a new cultural significance. Ron English came into fame as an artist in the early eighties illegally hijacking billboards. He created clever parodies on billboard advertisements of McDonald’s, Apple Computers, Marlborough, and many other causes and corporations, pasting them over the pre-existing corporate billboards. He believes that corporations do not have freedom of speech and that this right is only given to the people. In the Pedro Carvajal documentary, English explains that he creates art to give it to the people. Originally, art was everywhere, but soon, art became a method of class distinction: “Oh, you don’t know what you’re talking about [art], so therefore you’re in a lower class,” he says. English goes on to note that as he became more politically sophisticated, his works became much more politically oriented. During this period of political enlightenment, English began exploring new forms of art as well as inventing his own art forms designed to pack a message. Ron English is credited with the creation of “popaganda,” or the use of popular ideas, symbols, and icons to create works of art that sharply perverts the original to state a message. Famous depictions include Cancer Kids in which English paints juvenile Marlborough Camels smoking cigarettes and Money is the Root of All Art, which contains an American flag made up of American currency. Later, English branched off his popagandist ways and began updating former popular ideas, symbols and icons. Thus, Modern revisionism was born and into which Color Corrected falls. Color Corrected was painted during a time of corporate reform and on the verge of collegiate policy reform. Racism still existed (and does today) and as timed passed, the extraordinary notion that people of color were equals to whites became ordinary. However, the implications set by hundreds of years of oppression were not (and are not) easily reversible, making certain social and political circumstances extremely awkward. English mentioned wealthy social circles that suddenly gained a black member, or political campaigns that tried especially hard to woo certain racial groups as examples of society...