Death And The Eternal Forever by Ron English (book review).
Now here’s a book to cheer you up this time of year. Artist Ron English uses his book, ‘Death And The Eternal Forever’, to examine how close we are to death. On the opening flyfold of the cover, there’s a stark reminder, ‘You may know you’re going to die, but you won’t know you’re dead’. In fact, all the bold text throughout this book are not direct quotes from any of the text, so pay attention to them and their philosophy.
Ron English works in various mediums from oil to models, using them often to show the skeletons and organs inside. He plays around with anything from ‘Peanuts’ to ‘The Simpsons’ to Disney to even the make-up from KISS. There’s also a lot on existing paintings so presumably his work is identified as satire so thus avoiding any copyright infringement. He’s also a very effective artist. There also appears to be a slight obsession for skulls with star-like eye holes. Brings a whole new dimension to the phrase ‘stars in their eyes’.
I’m a little hard pushed to describe just what the pictures all are, so hope the sample pictures do better than words. I will confess to when looking at the cover, I thought that Ron English was going to be morbid. He’s not. It’s just an interesting way to look at life and death.
The final section of the book explains Ron English’s background in more detail and compared to other artist anarchists, he’s stayed mostly within the law. Mostly because of his tampering with advertising posters to make a point. The accounts of some of his peers are quite comical with a serious undertone. All are done to make a point about society and I’m curious why some of them haven’t reached the news this side of the pond. More so as a lot of the examples here focus on excess sugars and the deadly McDonalds that you non-diabetics get hooked on.
pub: Koreno Press – used with permission
I have to confess that I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I saw this book. It’s quite an experience and for those of you for a yen to look at art and discuss it, you’re going to have some fun here. Just don’t get caught dead doing it.
pub: Koreno Press – used with permission
GF Willmetts
December 2018
(pub: Korero Press, 2014. 175 page illustrated large hardback. Price: £14.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-9576649-2-0)
check out website: www.koreropress.com
