HE is Ronald McDonald?s worst nightmare, in a Tina-Fey-as-Sarah-Palin sort of way.

In such a dream, an unflattering portrait of the figure-conscious clown would be hoisted high above the city, depicting him as an obese red-head with a belly bursting out of his polyester jumpsuit.

In the Disney-meets-Dali universe of US guerrilla artist Ron English, the billboards of America?s streets and buildings become his super-size canvas, a medium to bring his timely messages to the masses.

Since 1984, the infamous pop iconoclast has been turning traffic jams into art exhibits with his politically motivated posters?which have lampooned everything, from the Iraq war to consumer excess, all in the name of ?free speech? and ?social commentary,? legal loopholes he has fully maximized. He calls this irreverent outdoor marketing ?subvertising:? subverting familiar brand imagery and slogans into confrontational art.

And come hell or highway patrol officer, the show has always gone on for the New Jersey-based prankster, even if it meant spending a night in the slammer, being chased by angry mobs, receiving cut-and-paste death threats, or lawsuits landing on his paint-splattered lap. The powers-that-be have never won a case against the ?popagandist.?

Headline-grabbing stunts aside, English is a celebrated pop-surrealist painter and toy designer who gets his creative stimulus from Mickey Mouse, Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, KISS makeup, ?Peanuts? characters, and Picasso?s ?Guernica.? His works have been featured in Morgan Spurlock?s Oscar-nominated documentary, ?Super Size Me,? and countless album covers (The Dandy Warhols seem to be a favorite client).

He was in town last weekend to launch his Abraham Obama bust, using his now iconic mural of an Abraham Lincoln-Barack Obama composite, which caused a riot in Boston during the US presidential elections.

Super talked to English about ?getting caught with his pants down,? his one-time patron Pavarotti, and his diabolical plan of hijacking Manila?s tarpaulin jungle.

Arrests. Lawsuits. Death threats. Do you wear them like badges of honor?

No. If you hang around graffiti artists, they?ll tell you it?s like being caught with your pants down. The only thing it did for me was make me less naïve. Once you?ve been arrested, you know what the actual consequences are. You have a better understanding of how the law works.

It?s funny how you?ve evaded the long arm of the law.

The cops in New York all know me. They even wave hello on the street. I also know the president of Vista Media (billboard ad agency in the US). He doesn?t know what to do about me. He doesn?t want to arrest me. He wants to give me free billboards and I can control what I put on them. It?s an interesting position to be in.

Why was nobody ever able to win a lawsuit against you?

It?s not illegal to use a copyrighted character or brand logo to engage in social commentary.

Luciano Pavarotti was a fan of your paintings.

He bought some of the huge ?Guernicas? from my first series?the one with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald. He even went to the gallery and bought it himself. Jerry Seinfeld also has one of my paintings.

Do you ever get attached to your billboards, knowing that all your efforts are wasted once they?re pulled down?

Maybe when I started. At one point I realized, had I kept all of them, they could fill up every museum in the US! Most of the time they just fly off. I?ve done over a thousand. I don?t really care anymore.

You should come out with a book. I?d buy it.

That?s a good idea. There?s a seven-year statute of limitations in the US, so anything I did over seven years ago I?m not liable for anymore!

You?re now a toy maker? Designer toys are sort of like modern-day sculptures.

Even the toys I grew up with were sculptures. When I think of my little dinosaur figurines, I?m thinking a very good sculptor made them. And for all those people who think, ?I can?t afford paintings,? toys can be their art collection.

Why do you install your art in low-income neighborhoods?

I grew up very poor. It always bothered me that if I made it in the art world, the people I grew up with would never see my works. So I decided I?ll spend half of my time giving them free art.

Art has a lot do with commerce. Some people didn?t like Jackson Pollock because he made too much money from a painting. It?s just paint, how can it be worth over a million dollars? But if you take away the money, and if it was just art on a wall created by nature, people will think it?s very beautiful. It?s art! Nobody can own it. To get it off the wall, you?d have to destroy it.

Any plans hacking the web and start hijacking online ads?

That would be pretty cool. Somebody actually approached me and asked if I could. I was like, ?Well, please don?t tell me how!?

What images of the Philippines will you bring home?

It kind of reminds me of Mexico. I?ve only been here for a few hours. But ? I did see a lot of billboards. So I?ll be back sooner rather than later I think.