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Tash Jayasinghe
Dexter
CibbuanoThe Clown's Artistic Jester
June 8th 2008 07:54
Clown Art
The Jester weighed down
Rodeo Clowns, Circus Clowns, Stunt clowns, Party Clowns for centuries the face painted fool has amused and bemused across cultures. What may have traditionally started as sociological necessity to ridicule authority, a novelty for children and the young at heart has since come to symbolise a myriad of enigmatic paradoxical abstractions. The Sad Clown, The Homicidal Clown, Tribal Clowns the man behind the painted face is just as fragile and complex as any of humanity’s jesters.
Clowning darkness
The soul that hides behind the physical and metaphoric mask has always inspired artists to render their own inquisition on the shrouded being beneath. Stephen King’s IT and real life diabolical child killer John Wayne Gacy both contributed significantly to the contemporary pop culture trickster representing villainy.
The Sad Clown
Clowns frighten some with the same fervour that they give glee, it is only natural that curiosity has led to the conjuring of many conflicting and disturbing images.
The Evil Clown
A little Clown history from Wikipedia:
“Clowning is a form of entertainment that has appeared in some manner in virtually every culture, including the bushmen in Africa. In most cultures the clown is a ritual character associated with festival or rites of passage and is often very different from the most popular western form. In Europe, up until as late as the 19th century the clown was a typical everyday character, and often appeared in carnivals. The performance is symbolic of liminality - being outside the rules of regular society the clown is able to subvert the normal order, and this basic premise is contemporarily used by many activists to point out social absurdity.”
"During the 16th century the Commedia dell'arte also became a huge influence on perceptions of the clown in Europe, an influence which passed through pantomime, into vaudeville and on to the touring circuses of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Commedia took influences from the grotesque masked clowns of carnivals and mystery plays, and began in market places as a way to sell vegetables. It became incredibly popular throughout Europe amongst both the general public and the courts. The stock characters of the commedia originally included the Zanni - peasant clowns, Pantalone, the old Miser, Il Dottore - The Banal Doctor, and then grew from there to incorporate the Lovers, Arlecchino, Pedrolino, and Brighella, who have survived into the twentieth century in one form or another.”
Surreal Jester
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