So I've been long in love with the image of the sad clown (more specifically Emmett Kelly Junior) and I've finally begun to act on it. The sad clown speaks to our humanity. For me it represents every level of emotion and feeling I face. As a clown, the expectation is entertainment. If I'm a clown, I should make you laugh. But I'm not just funny, I feel everything. I'm quite emotional at times, quite passionate. I am the sad clown, because it's more than just a clown. Why a sad clown? Is it because people are entertained by the sadness of others, by turmoil and fight? A sad clown puts it all out there. It's like putting on a mask to take one off and show your true self, rather than thinking a mask is what hides you. No, but maybe it shields you.
On that note...which I of course have many thoughts on...here is the beginnings of my explorations of identity through the use of clown face as mask and metaphor.
"Life is a play in so many acts. It is not a game as some might say, but a performance. We are all performers. We are characters; characters in the everyday performance of life. My work explores this idea as it relates to the people who play the biggest roles in my life. My interests and explorations as an artist and as a person culminate around a theme of identity. In Performance Stills I have chosen to explore that theme through the clown as mask and the mask as metaphor.
What's your role? Who are you? Who am I? Am I in your play? Are you in my play? Are we a series of spin offs and guest appearances?"
-Isabel F. Artist's Statement, Performance Stills 2012
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