‘Clownville’ Explains why Clowns are what Nightmares Are Made Of

Clowns scare people. Lots of people. So many people are scared of clowns that the phobia has a name – Coulrophobia.

If you suffer from this fear, you might as well go ahead and make plans into the night as sleeping has just been crossed off your schedule.

If you haven’t been afraid of clowns until now, Eolo Perfido’s ‘Clownville’ series might just change that.

“Admire my mask. Is the truest thing you will see today”, Eolo was once told by a clown, and that’s one of the messages that have been accompanying the project.

The French-born Rome-based photographer told DIYP that he’s always been interested in clowns and other performing art forms that use the artist’s body to exaggerate emotional truths that cannot be conveyed through speech.

Eolo claims he was inspired by actors such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, as well as various movies, novels and comics, but I personally think these clowns are more likely to be found hanging out with Freddy Krueger.

Anyway, since he has a large collection of clown-related items, Eolo said creating a personal project on the subject was a natural step for him.

Working in advertising, 99% of Eolo’s work requires that he plans the shoots all the way from pre-production, through the actual shooting and to post-production. For this reason he enjoys planning only certain aspects of the Clownville shoots while completely improvising others, encouraging his subjects to do the same.

As convincing as these striking images are, apparently they aren’t all real clowns. Some are real Eolo confirms, but others are people from the entertainment industry, friends or random strangers that he met while out and about working on his street photography.

“Clownville is more about my stomach than my brain”, Eolo said. “I shoot it when I’m in the right mood”, and Eolo’s clown mood reaped considerable amounts of success. The series has been published in many international magazines, Eolo tells us, and participated in Torino’s Artissima Art fair in 2013 and 2014.

Eolo’s commercial work has appeared in journals such as the New York Times, Communication Arts, Computer Ars, L’espresso, Russian Vogue, GQ and Vision, but exhibiting ‘Clownville’ in a solo show at the 2013 International Circus Festival must have been one of his personal highlights.

You can see more of Eolo’s impressive work on his website and if you want to keep someone you know from ever sleeping again, you can find Clownville fine art prints at Icons 57 and hang one in their bedroom.