Narrator

In 2003 and 2004, Sherman made a series of clown pictures. Curator, Eva Respini:

Eva Respini

These pictures evoke circus posters, but they represent a range of emotional states, from hysterical passion to tragedy. What you see here is a very disturbing photograph of three heads, the same clown with a blue wig and a bulbous nose.

There’s a deeply unsettling quality to this photograph. It’s not just the Day-Glo colors of the background or the garish makeup; but the combination of figures. These are all the same figure that she has Photoshopped into the same picture. You have this large head with two smaller heads that are peeking in with this very sinister grin, to create a grotesque or scary narrative.

Narrator

In this series, Sherman explored the personalities and emotions of the people who dress up and perform as clowns. Cindy Sherman.

Cindy Sherman archival audio

When I was researching it online, I saw all of these pictures of people trying to promote themselves for children’s parties. With some of them you’re thinking, this one’s an alcoholic, that one’s a child molester, that one feels pathetic because no one loves him—so they would want kids to laugh at them. I started thinking about it in terms of the character underneath the makeup.