Send in the Clowns

 

When I first donned the Groucho nose and glasses in 1996, I knew that something funny was going to happen but I did not know exactly what.

Since then, for 25 years, that guise has taken me on a remarkable journey of self-discovery. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s female persona Rrose Sélavy, I created a masculine persona, Marc De Ansar. As my alter-ego, I have enacted crazy and courageous aspects of myself and have explored issues of gender, identity, sexuality, ethnic stereotypes, humor, and more…not necessarily in that order.

By using the comedic face of the jokester/clown, I’ve poked fun at the formality of the staid traditional portrait. Over time, the disguise, the mask, remained the same while underneath it all, I changed.

Always close at hand, at the ready to be a subject, over the years I’ve painted some 100 portraits of me as Marc. Who better to get to know than myself? 

With thoughts of Steven Sondheim’s song “Send in The Clowns” this portrait is one of four completed in 2005. The phrase “send in the clowns” is a theater reference meaning "if the show isn't going well, if a situation is irredeemably hopeless, let’s send in the clowns"; in other words, "let's do the jokes."

These days, as a counter to despair, we need good news, good humor, and good clowns more than ever.

Hmmm…That reminds me of a joke…

In conjunction with Alice Neel's Pictures of People at the DeYoung Musuem, the museum sent out a call for portraits to be included in an online gallery and displayed on a monitor at the Museum. There have already been some 341 submissions. Just look at the incredible variety!!! Such a testimony to the creativity of the human spirit!!!

Marc as a clown HERE.