Ron English’s solo show “Crucial Fiction” opens on the 8th

IMPORTANT UPDATE: THE OPENING OF “CRUCIAL FICTION” HAS BEEN MOVED DUE TO THE HURRICANE AND WILL NOW TAKE PLACE ON NOVEMBER 8TH AT 6PM.

Ron English‘s latest solo show opens this Thursday evening at Opera Gallery‘s NYC location in SoHo. The main theme of Crucial Fiction is an attempt by Ron to paint the sort of images that his 8-year-old self would dream up but couldn’t express with such technical excellence. From what I’ve seen, the results center on maddening scenes of Ron’s custom-toy dreamworlds, like the one above. And by “custom-toy,” I don’t just mean the stuff that he turns into vinyl gold with brands like Kidrobot but also the one-off creations and strange combinations he comes up with that look something like very advanced versions of Sid’s mutant toysToy Story.

Weather permitting, I’ll be coming up from Philadelphia for this show (as well as Hanksy and Gilf!’s openings the same night), so New Yorkers really have no excuse not to be there.

Of course, Ron also just painted a mural nearby on Mulberry Street for The Art of Comedy, a project with The New York Comedy Festival, Vandalog, Little Italy and Montana Cans.

Photo courtesy of Opera Gallery