Clown ballerinas embody male and female, high and low art, and serve as an alter ego for my own inner child. As a kid, I had an Emmett Kelly ventriloquist dummy that served as my personal psychoanalyst. He knew of my closeted desire to dance. I went into gymnastics instead, afraid of the bullying that would naturally follow a dance practice. Once in college, I took years of dance classes, and joined 2 community dance troupes and was a member of Cheer Dallas, the first all gay squad to compete in NCA competition.

Years later, I was delighted to discover Jonathan Borofsky’s Venice sculpture, Ballerina Clown when I moved to Venice, CA. This character has taken up residence in my imagination, and I’ve even masqueraded as him on quite a few occasions.