May Guest Artist Lauren Unbekant

I have primarily been a performance-based artist and director specializing in Clown and

movement-based storytelling. My work combines the classic film noir Clown and the Accidental

Trickster, punctuated with contemporary movement. 

When devising performance work, I have always incorporated a visual component in my creative process to draw out ideas. I use drawing, painting, and collaging to craft immersive spaces in my work; I utilize my art-making elements to score the gestural language of my clown character and their world. When the pandemic ended live performances, I scrambled to find a way to address my need to make sense of the world from a clown's perspective. I shifted my performance practice to a visual practice; this transition unearthed a profound connection to visual art that I had not fully realized. I could seamlessly intertwine the processes of my performance work with my visual art, resulting in a harmonious synergy.

As a Clown, my visual artistic expression organically embodies the mischievous mayhem of the

trickster, finding a delightful refuge in the ambiguous realms between the sacred and the profane.

The embrace of black-and-white stripes, a classic trope for that divide, and the emergence of

playful shapes acting as shapeshifting characters are driven by the same performative

spontaneity, imparting an element of playful unpredictability to my work. Humor remains an

intrinsic and pivotal component, infusing my work with a profound light and dark-hearted

energy.