Applying Clowning Principles to Painting
really, this clown stuff is for everything.
How might the art of clowning apply to the art of painting?
Whelp! Clowning can gosh darn apply to anything!
For this body of work, my focus is on my devotion to the moment, engaging my unique sense of play, and following my impulses with curiosity, risk, and persistence. All of these themes are key components of clowning!
I should probably think of a name for this series at some point; for now, we’ll call it The Color of Catharsis.
They all start like this, color in craft paint organized by gravity and time.
And they all end up rather distinctive and different, each choice building something that at some point does not work. Until I find it again, and it does.
Devising a clown act is like jumping off a cliff and building your wings on the way down.
You take the leap, and you sincerely do your best. You succeed by listening and responding authentically, allowing failure to breathe, and trying again until it works.
You let the audience see you find it, and that is why they love the clown. Because the clown is humanity with enduring hope. If the clown falls and gets back up again to find equal belief in themselves as before, anything seems possible. Even peace, healing, joy, love, and a life worth living.
That is what I do here with paint as I hone in on the moment I am creating in. I take the leap of creating from pure impulse, trusting in myself and trusting in the medium. Listening to my inner whispers with utter transparency and putting faith in my choices, whatever they may be. Allowing myself to be at peace while disliking stages of the work and pursuing a solution with play and curiosity for the process.
Am I talking about clowning or painting?
Exactly.
The philosophy of clowning can (and arguably, should) be used to approach anything.
Two weeks ago, I was part of an art exhibit at Mothership Studios here in San Marcos, TX. Besides a gallery show, we had an open studio tour of all the participants, where 50 artists opened their spaces to receive the public as visitors (you can read more about it in last week’s issue of The Skinless Grape). My partner Alan couldn’t be there for much of the event, but on Sunday was able to pop up studio #28.5 for a playful photo session with visitors.
Alan’s and my work are very different, yet it seems apparent that we approach our art with these clown principles at heart. As visitors came through, Alan asked them to roll a die to decide if they would choose their source of inspiration or if he would. If they lost, he’d call out something like, “Seduce me with fear!” and fire off a portrait.
My guy likes games. “Finding the game” is a classic improv term. He has a lot of improv in his background. Finding the game means finding the structure of rules that a story lives in. Those rules allow for play!
Using the die to create a game with rules any stranger already knows was such a fun idea to introduce people to the camera in a playful state.
Seeing how he came at a pop-up speed round of folks he didn’t know was really neat. He took the leap, followed his unique sense of play, and built quite a fun set of wings on his way down!
Alan’s portraiture usually is much more thorough and executed with great care and planning. He creates gorgeous, surreal worlds of color by really sculpting his light. It is all very authentic to the medium. And to the subject!
He interviews his client and unearths things about them he spots as funky or hearty—my words, not his.
He delves into the details that tickle him, knowing they’ll tickle others too.
This could also be linked to improv. A technique to mine a moment for material to build a scene with is to have an actor tell a story or be interviewed, and then whatever jumps out at you becomes a jumping-off point to improvise a scene. As you improvise a scene, the more specific you are about everything allows the scene to connect with more people. Going broad in storytelling perhaps seems like it would reach more people, but the exact opposite is true. Colgate toothpaste is much more interesting to audiences than toothpaste.
If you get a chance to peek at Alan’s work, let me know if you see what I mean about the specificity.
Alan and I create a lot together. We have a very wonderful partnership in that way. I am constantly astounded by his creativity and weird mind. Beyond his skills, of course. Because lord knows mad skills go into his work. He is very clear about what he wants and must be precise with each component of the work to achieve it. That’s where his clowny persistence comes in. His persistence to achieve the goal of an image and learn the skills he needs to accomplish as much.
We differ in many ways with how we create, yet it all comes from the same core place where clowning lives, a place of curiosity, play, risk, and persistence.
Tonight we are putting up a ten-minute devised clown theater piece at a talent show my Grandmother is putting on at her church. She started doing stand-up some years ago, and I adore her for it. And creating a whole show so she can do a set? We must be related or something ;)
I hope you have a blessed and beautiful weekend!
Julia
Catharsis by Color could be a cologne.