Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English

Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English is a highly distinctive 2005 film that gives audiences a deeper look into the world of an artist whose work is engaging, challenging, groundbreaking, and at times, controversial. Directed by Pedro Carvajal and featuring iconic artists and personalities such as Shepard Fairey, this documentary weaves a fascinating narrative about the life and exploits of Ron English, a figure whose art is often a rebellion against modern culture and its institutions.

The film, running approximately 78 minutes, cleverly incorporates interviews with the subject and other prominent artists, along with vivid visual presentations of his work, to clearly portray his artistic journey and significant influence within the contemporary art landscape. This documentary offers much more than just a recounting of English's biography. It boldly explores his defiant approach to creating art, his motivations, his inspirations, and the broader implications of his work.

The title of the film, Popaganda, is a clever fusion of the words “pop” (as in pop art) and “propaganda,” reflecting the influence and nature of English's art – a provocative twist on popular culture and mass media imagery often used to convey political messages. Known as the "godfather of street art", English employs his extensive knowledge of advertising and propaganda to manipulate familiar visuals, such as corporate logos and children's characters, in order to showcase the often-dubious tactics companies use to impart their messages.

The film focuses on the period from the mid 1990s to early 2000s and explores English's beginnings from an obscure artist who contemplated the influence of advertising to a celebrated figure in the street art scene. Born in Texas and raised in the Midwest, English's indoctrination into the world of illegal art began during his college years when he started to adopt billboards as his canvas of choice. Using this larger-than-life platform, he propagated his own messages, subverting the intention of these commercial spaces and speaking directly to the masses.

The film provides ample insight into English's creative process, which involves making detailed renditions of billboards in his studio and then pasting them over actual commercial ads. Filled with dark humor, biting satire, and a deep understanding of pop culture, Ron's billboard takeovers led to arrests, countless fines, and a reputation as one of the most notorious billboard pirates in history.

Intertwined among the exploration of English’s work, the film provides insight into his personal life, offering an intimate perspective into the artist unrivaled by many documentaries. It shows English as a family man who - while creating a globally recognized name for his art - maintains a deep connection with his wife and children. Through this, the viewer gets a sense of his duality as both a renegade artist and a devoted father.

Popaganda also portrays the impact of English's work on other street artists, including the highly recognizable figure, Shepard Fairey, known for his Obey campaign and the iconic Barack Obama "Hope" poster of 2008. Through interviews and commentaries, Fairey incisively articulates how English's daring approach to subverting commercial art has greatly inspired his own work.

What sets Popaganda apart from similar art documentaries is the way it embraces English's ethos and melds it into the fabric of the film. It is brimming with all the subversive creativity, bold colors, and manipulating perspectives one expects from English's work, making the film itself as much a piece of art as it is a documentary. Pedro Carvajal, the director, masterfully captures English's energy, spirit, and deceptively playful resistance against corporate culture and consumerism.

Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English is a captivating look into the life of a groundbreaking artist, providing audiences with a layered, insightful perspective that challenges the norm. This film – genre-defying in its unique structure – is sure to intrigue not only art enthusiasts and activists but also those interested in an incredible story about a pioneer who blurs the line between high and low art, delivering thought-provoking messages enwrapped in dazzling visual aesthetics.