RA#10 Not Me Artist: Joby Downs

Joby Downs is an up and rising performance artist from Hollywood, California who was discovered this last year after his airtime on America's Got Talent.  Since then he has been invited to show at a variety of venues in New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles.  His work focuses on psychotic phenomena and left the critics in New York claiming him to be an untamed, raw, exhilarating mix of naked talent.

The original identity and origin of Downs is not disclosed.  There are vague details of his history given as he fears that it could jeopardize his safety,  He was abandoned as an infant and left to be raised by vagabonds who later sold him to a circus as a sideshow act in his early adolescence. He found his escape in the early 1990's while in Los Angeles as part of a world tour.  He has since made his survival in Hollywood by way of street performance and prostitution, and just recently this year as an artist.

His current works reflect the memories he wishes he could repress, but feels he must bring awareness to the public in hope to save the next child from the vicious cycles of circus slavery.   He looks to his art as a cleansing process and hopes to wash away all the "yuck" in the world.  There is much thought and preparation given in the set up and choreography, although in order to keep its originality it is only performed once.  Downs specifically does not rehearse his performances and his videos are done in one single shot without editing. His work created from his performances are available for sale through auction, as well as limited copies of the videos in which he restricts from the internet.  Proceeds of sales go to the P.S.Y.C.K.O.T.I.C.C. Fund (Please Save Your Children Kept Oppressed Through Indecent Circus Clowns Fund), founded by Downs in 2014.

His influences include Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, MTV, and Dan Dunn.