By John David Back

Whether you’re afraid of clowns or not, you’re going to be unnerved by this exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center. This is assuming you will stop watching television for a couple of hours and go see one of the most interesting exhibits in art.

When you take the alarmingly large elevator at the CAC on Sixth and Walnut in Cincinnati up to the 4th floor to check out Ugo Rondinone’s exhibit, let’s start this day again, you will walk out onto a big rectangle of flypaper. This is not an accident. Every square inch of floors 4 and 5 is painted loud, bold, wild solid colors. The sticky paper on the floor makes sure whatever crap you have stuck to your shoe doesn’t ruin the art. Thank you very much.

The next thing to startle and confuse you will be the 45 clowns sitting or lying on the ground. All over. These are not clown paintings. These are not bronze clowns. These are 45 life-size human being clowns wearing every pattern imaginable, looking like they just had the worst clown day of their clown lives. From the colorful socks to the white gloves to the big red noses, these clowns are the real deal.

Are they really human beings? I’ll let you figure that out.

Ugo Rondinone, a Swiss artist (I Googled that, I had no idea what heritage the last name Rondinone implied), is not shy of overwhelming you. When you have a painting hung on a wall that becomes too much for you, you just turn your back on it. You walk over to something else. In let’s start this day again, there’s nowhere to go. You are immersed. You are inside of the art. This is the Matrix. The Matrix of clowns.

Some art is worth seeing because of the beauty. Some because of the skill involved in creating it. Some for the political message it sends, or it’s commentary on society. This exhibit is worth seeing for all of these things in some way, but also because it’s just so very cool. It really makes you feel like you’re going to get grabbed by a clown. You are walking among them. On the 5th floor there are a couple of other pieces which draw you in in their own way, but the real stars are the clowns.

It’s a combination of astounding visuals, some kind of internal discomfort, and a grand scale. If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times – Cincinnati has the best art. The CAC is free. Get over there and take a look while you have the chance. The exhibit is open until some time in August.

Oh, they also got 5,000 Cincinnati kids to draw pictures of rainbows, and they cover some of the walls on the 5th floor. Future CAC artists!

John David Back is a Cincinnati native who lives and works in OTR. He’s an avid reader and a mediocre writer who loves the experience of art and beauty. Tell him what he should experience and send fan mail to johndavidback@gmail.com.