Falling is the most tangible evidence of a force pulling us down, keeping us from drifting up and away. In the hierarchy of verticality versus horizontality, all of our higher pursuits - even those of looking inwards in order to perfect ourselves - tend upwards: seeking elevation, transcendence, uplifting, perspective. To rise above is to be better, superior, superhuman. To be under (subjected to pressure and constraints) is ordinary, subordinate to the laws of materiality: below, beneath, rock bottom.

The clown is an expert at falling, a professional. A relative of the trickster, the jester and the fool, each having their own area of influence (art, reality, or ritual) and location (stage, myth, or folklore), a clown exists in the intersection between a real person and an archetype. The clown can, all at the same time, become the object of ridicule; ridicule others; and laugh at himself1. 

Falling over and over again, this transitory state and the theatrics of almost hitting the ground become the fixed identity of resistance, since falling is failing, and getting back up again is the expression of cyclical endurance. Humor becomes the only tool of survival, an only-human weapon against pretentious attempts at being larger than life. A constant reminder that we are only one slip away from the soil in the ground, losing the symbolic and the spiritual in the descent, now bound by animality, perennial and purposeless. Defenseless and humiliated before gravity, “faced with the dynamics of laughter, before the fall itself, we can only surrender, join the chorus.2” 

As entertainer, the clown embodies both tragedy and comedy, his act juggles seriousness with triviality. The artist, or the clown, plays with the solemn expectations of reason conquered by unexpected breaks of laughter. The artist flies too high towards sublimation, walking the tightrope between two abysses -glory and rejection-3. At the artist’s peril, ignoring warning signs inevitably leads to a humbling downfall of grotesque proportions. The clown falls willingly into this condition, facing gravity with levity, staying buoyant with rehearsed plunges and not so serious spills, shirking sobriety with consistent excess. 

Defying gravity, the invention of the airplane remains a symbol of our disregard: each crash another reminder of our entitlement. In 2003, Adam Stamp’s father and his co-pilot died in an accident involving an engine failure of a 1950s bomber C.A.S.A 2111 in Wyoming. This aircraft, manufactured in Spain, was Franco’s personal plane, and was the last operational of its kind, having been sold to an American collector in 1975. C.A.S.A 2111s were nicknamed “Pedro” and were used for military incursions in the “Forgotten War” against Morroco for the Spanish West Saharan territories. 

-Sira Pizà

1 Elena A. Semenova, “The Theories of Humour in the Study of the Clown Figure”. Art and culture Studies, n.1, 2003. 
2 José Díaz Cuyás, “La Risa de Lacoonte”. Acto: Revista de Pensamiento Artístico Contemporáneo, n.2-3, 2005.
3 Christine Ross, The aesthetics of disengagement: Contemporary Art and Depression. University of Minnesota Press, 2006, p.45.

Adam Stamp (b. 1985, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA) is an Aries Sun, Pisces Moon, and Capricorn Rising. His work in sculpture, installation, drawing, text(s), and curation centres around themes of gifting, guesting, hosting, and serving. It also explores ideas of use/abuse, the intersection of queerness with toxic masculinity, failure, aspiration, home, loneliness, and falling. Stamp is the founder and director of New Low, an exhibition space / editions project in Los Angeles. He received his BA in Art History from University of Oregon, Eugene and MFA with distinction from ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena. He has taught at Otis College of Design, Los Angeles and ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena and lectured on the work of Caravaggio and Morandi. Permanent bar installations include The Slippery Slope at the Aspen Art Museum and Il Meandro at Indipendenza, Rome. Public collections include Centre Pompidou, Paris, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC, Nomas Foundation, Rome.

Stamp lives and works in London.

All images by Roberto Ruiz. Courtesy of the artist and Spiritvessel.