Illuminating hilarious comedy turning screams into dreamsFor all bedeviled people of whatever age Seeking joy yet finding dark nightmares Revealing prancing, cackling demons Laying bare deceitful, boisterous lies Stripping face-paint from oozing cancers Fueled by twin poisons of fear and hate Seven ugly ulcers stitched and soothed In uniquely beautiful escape…
This was a clever, short, interesting twist on the 7 deadly sins. At first I was confused where it was going, but quickly got grounded in the story about what happens when man is directed by flesh rather than spirit. At first I recognized in the clowns people I knew, then I recognized myself, which was the point from the beginning: self-examination.
In Evil Clowns readers will see artwork of different clowns with short commentary that accompanies the pictures. "Meow" the Clown shows artwork of a clown looking into a mirror. It is accompanied by a take on a song from The West Side Story. In the lyrics, the clown is describing themself as a cat that is cute but, dangerous and ready to attack. "Narciso" the Clown has a picture of a person who is imagining themself as a classic clown with a big red nose. This person is very proud of their clown appearance. They even go so far as to refer to their fans as minions. Anyone who does not adore Narciso is an enemy. "Gimme" the Clown has very eerie artwork of a man with a painted face and long red hair. He is shirtless with long blue pants and shoes. He has extremely large white hands and a full moon looms in the background. There is also an ongoing story at the end of each clown section that involves Bee and Chloe. They are two sisters who are on a mysterious island and they are trying to help get their sick brother to safety. There are eleven other sections with pictures that use brilliant colors and are connected to the writing. All of the clowns are different but, they are all creepy and devious. It is an interesting conceptual artbook for fans of clowns, modern art and dark humor.
This is a thought-provoking book. It consists thirteen free-verse poems, each related to an original work of art. “Sinful” is probably a more appropriate adjective than “evil.”