In tattoo art, the circus clown tattoo is an obvious symbol of playfulness and laughter. But, few people know the history of the clown which is actually quite diverse and interesting. Ancestors of the clown performed in the ancient civilizations of China, Egypt and Greece. In Rome, they appeared as mimes. The point of the clown, then and now, is to represent the flip side of sanity. As the king’s jester, the clown mocked authority and ridiculed the establishment. Anything generally accepted as common knowledge was fodder for the jester’s ridicule. The jester was the only one who dared talk back to the king.
In fact, that was his role, to think laterally, to think outside box, to abandon reason, and precisely for this reason were his ideas often incorporated into official policy. The clown’s white face actually goes back to early Greek theatre, where it provided a more graphic picture of the actor’s features, especially when viewed from the back rows of those ancient stone ampitheatres. The white base is said to be a symbol of death and resurrection, upon which colors are added, symbolizing life. The clown is a symbol of freedom from the imprisonment of the human spirit in a conformist world. Thus, the clown tattoo shatters all illusions and by it’s very nature mocks man’s great pretensions and illusions.
While clown tattoos have generally been, in days past, symbols of laughter and joy there has been a shift to more demonic types of clown characters. Now, this may seem like it’s an oxymoron, in actuality it’s not. Since the days of old, clowns have had a dual role in society. By their playful antics they exposed the accepted norms for what they were, shattering the illusions of sanity that we have built for ourselves. They have often put a fine point on the notion that life is meaningless and that the efforts of man is often fool hardy.
They were seen as the divine tricksters by the Native Americans. Take the story of Kokopelli, the hump back clown of the Hopi tribes. He enters a village and keeps the inhabitants laughing the whole night through with his crazy antics and foolish behavior. When the village awakes in the morning, they find that Kokopelli has left in the middle of the night. But, not before he impregnates every woman in the village!! So, as you can see the clown tattoo can often have a dual meaning. The makeup of the clown is often seen as hiding the monster beneath, imparting the jovial and the sinister at the same time. |
26 Sep 2009
