"Coulrophobia is an abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns. It is not uncommon among children, but is also sometimes found in teenagers and adults as well. Sufferers sometimes acquire a fear of clowns after having a bad experience with one personally, or seeing a sinister portrayal of one in the media. A design study carried out by the University of Sheffield found that children are frightened by clown-themed decor in hospitals. This fear can come quickly just by seeing a clown in person or by how they look in pictures.

Not all sufferers of the phobia experience the same degree of fear." - taken from Wikipedia [link]

I have quite a severe fear of clowns - and it stems from two toys I had as a child. A hula hoop board that swung on my bedroom door. The clown on it always seemed to look at me with disdain when I threw my hoops at the hooks that were plastered over his body. Especially when I aimed at the one on his nose. Then my parents bought me another clown - a couple of weeks later I saw Poltergeist round at my cousins' house (they were bad - they would show me horror movies when I was little) - I put two and two together and came up with countless sleepless nights.

So now, in my usual manner with my fears, I've been collecting images of clowns to combat my fears. I'm also embarking on my 'coulrophobia' project in the summer - combatting my fears is always good!

So here are some of the images I've collected on dA recently - strange that so many are under 'horror and macabre' - methinks there are many of us who believe that clowns are evil nasty things!

CLOWN PORTRAITS















DRAWINGS AND PAINTINGS








FIGURINES/ SCULPTURES and DOLLS





CANDIDS





AND THEN JUST THIS ONE (because it made me laugh)