It’s fair to say that, of all the quirky corners in L.A., Venice stands out as the quintessential place to encounter the city’s most unusual events and personalities. Here, freedom of expression isn’t just encouraged, it’s woven into the very streets, where murals, performers, and eccentric sights greet you at every turn.
And by far, the queen/king of these attractions is the massive, three-story-high sculpture that rises above what is now a CVS… And yes, its story is as captivating and peculiar as its mesmerizing appearance.
A sculpture conceived to turn heads
In 1989, the developers of Venice Renaissance, a mixed-use building occupying an entire block of prime Venice real estate at Rose Avenue and Main Street, hired sculptor Jonathan Borofsky to create a striking sculpture, Los Angeles Explorers Guild explains. The main goal? To make their building stand-out. And well, the artist delivered.
Borofsky designed a 30-foot-tall ballerina in a tutu, standing en pointe, crowned with the stubbly-faced head of a crying clown and oversized white gloves, crafted from aluminum, steel, wire mesh, and fiberglass. A motor in its right knee allowed Clownerina to swing her leg as if performing a slow-motion can-can.
Venice’s Ballerina Clown is the younger sibling of a 12-foot-tall Clownerina that was first shown at MOCA in 1986, which even sang a warped version of Sinatra’s My Way as it kicked. Another Ballerina Clown once stood in the courtyard of the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Germany.
A divisive piece of work
Shortly after its installation, Ballerina Clown received praise from art experts. L.A. Times critic Christopher Knight called it “an extraordinary concatenation of forms” and noted that it could “claim a heady modern ancestry, from Watteau’s Pierrot and Degas’ dancers to the circus performers of Picasso and Seurat.”
Still, despite its grandiose and original appearance, almost immediately after its unveiling, it earned quite a few detractors, especially among Venice Beach residents. Apparently, the mechanism that powered Clownerina’s ballerina kicks was quite loud and far from pleasant. In response to resident complaints, the ballerina’s kicking was halted almost immediately, and our beloved dancer stood still for about 25 years.
Back in 2014, during the Venice Art Walk, Ballerina Clown kicked once again after some adjustments, and it was announced that it would do so each day during limited hours, between 1 PM and 6 PM. But after that last temporary dance, sadly, no one has seen her kick again… have you?