Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Leah Probst

Running Away with Cirque Du Soleil

From the time I chose to leave my life behind and go on tour I knew I was going to create artwork about my experience. I had no idea it would be a series of the clown at the time, yet here they are. In this particular painting I combined the traditional clown with the modern touch of the magic behind the show by exposing the in-ear headpiece hanging around his shoulders. This painting was much more about the show, the makeup, the character rather than the situation of the global pandemic that took such meaning in my later work.

“This painting was the first of my Cirque Du Soleil series. My first ever portrait painting this large (36”x48”). Not only was it the largest, it was also my first ever portrait painted in oil. I had worked with water-based oils before but never with real oil paint, real solvents, in the real way to use oils. It’s funny to think after 5 years of art school, majoring in painting, about to being my final works of my Bachelor’s degree I had to ask my professors if I’m supposed to start dark to light or light to dark… and how do I clean my brushes?”